A Requiem for a mage
by Sentai-Rider Fan
Summary: Rita's heart has been broken and in her depression she attempts to kill herself. Can a certain knight save her from the darkness before it utterly consumes her... Read on to find out. Rated T for suicide attempt and violence.
1. Chapter 1

Lightning flashed in the capital city, it was unnatural for this time of year but the people accepted it and went on with their daily lives except for one red-haired girl in an empty room in a castle. She was sitting on a desk with the candle burning low; she quickly ate her ice cream and flung it behind her, shattering it, before grabbing another glass and starting to fill it with ice cream again. Although she had eaten at least 5 glasses of it she didn't care, all she could think about was the pain in her heart and how she had to keep her mind off of it.

A knock on the door, the girl tensed, there wasn't supposed to be anyone up this late at night, she got up and washed her face so she looked at least fresh. She opened the door to see a pink haired girl with a concerned look on her face, "Is everything okay Rita?" the girl asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine Estelle" Rita replied cheerfully, "Why? Is something wrong?"

"No, its just that I heard some glass smashing several times and it came from your room so I thought" she said trying to look inside Rita's room.

Rita blocked Estelle's view and said, "Nah, must be the lightning. Go get some sleep; it's your 20th birthday tomorrow right? Wouldn't want to get sick now do you?"

"Of course you're right. Goodnight Rita"

"Goodnight Estelle" Rita said and closed the door; as soon as she did she started to sob silently. She went back to the desk and continued to eat her ice cream, now nearly run out, as she remembered the cause of such pain.

_Flashback_

"_Hi, could you possibly be Rita? My name is Alexander and I'm researching on blastia."_

"_Blastia? You do know that it went out of existence a few years ago right?"_

"_Yes I know but I want to know its history and since you were sort of a blastia expert before it disappeared I thought you might know a bit about it"_

"_And why should I help you?"_

"_How about for starters I treat you to dinner?"_

_End flashback_

Those words were the start of a painful cycle that she had yet to know. As she continued to work with Alexander she continued to be attracted to him despite having pushed people off time and again with the exception of Brave Vesperia and Flynn. He was a hard working man with jet-black hair and a not so handsome face but not ugly either but somewhere in the middle yet not average. He had a thin body but could somehow find an inner strength that allowed him to lift things at least one and a half times his weight but it was his emerald eyes, like Rita's that captivated her and soon she found herself falling in love with him, however, she was unable to tell her true feeling as she was afraid of rejection so she had let it be and thought of a better time to say it.

As they continued their research together they discovered that it may be possible to somehow harness a weaker version of aer that can be used in every day uses. They relentlessly pursued this line of thinking and soon they discovered it, a weaker version of aer called 'helium' that could be used to at least activate small machines that could be used to farm, repair and minor defence work, when they presented their findings to the mages at Aspio, needless to say the mages were overjoyed and immediately presented their findings to the capital where they were then refined into mini blastias. Alexander and Rita were hailed as pioneers and were given many honour but however all proceeds were given to Alexander, who, promised to give Rita a 50-50 percentage of the profits which she did receive for a time but had recently stopped.

When she confronted Alexander he was, of all places, in a pub. "Alexander do you remember me?"

Alexander looked at her not recognizing her for a while before saying with a surprised look on his face, "Oh Rita. How are you?"

"I'm good but uhm… you see…"

"What is it?"

"The profits"

"Oh right the profits." He looked around him and quickly said, "Come with me to the front"

Rita followed him to the front where it was starting to rain when he said with a cold voice, "Rita I hate to tell you but you're no longer getting the profits"

"What? Why?" Rita said angrily, "I helped you on that research"

"Yes you did but as far as the empire and the mages at Aspio are concerned" he said wagging his fingers, "You never helped me"

"What do you mean I never helped you? I was there when you- we- presented our findings."

"You can say that but the mages will say that you were never there"

"How is that-" as Rita began to realise, "You paid them off"

"Yeah, there were so much money coming in that I had a surplus to pay them off all of them to ensure that I get all of them" he said emphasising the world 'all'.

"But, but" Rita started unable to say it

"Oh face it Rita. It's a cut-throat world out there, you got enough money from your rich friend Estelle as well as other research that you're doing now."

"But I love you" Rita blurted out

He stopped talking for a minute as he considered what Rita had just said before laughing out loud, "You loved me?" he asked, "That is the most ridiculous confession I've ever heard and believe me I've heard a few"

"But-"

"Listen to me Rita. I hate you. You get it? I've always hated since the beginning, I only tagged with you because I thought you were the best chance of me getting some money and what do you know? That worked so now I have no use for you, so get out of my sight and stay out before I lose it and if I ever see you again I assure you. You will not live to see the next dawn." And with that he left Rita, alone and in the rain. She ran towards the castle not looking back, her heart broken into thousands of pieces, she had always know that it was hard to find someone she cared about other than Estelle, someone she wanted to be with forever. She thought Alexander was her chance and she found out that it wasn't, her one chance. Gone. Forever.

Once she got to her castle she ran to her room and shut the door. She then cried her eyes out and was like this for the rest of the night. In the morning she managed to clean herself up a bit and went on with her day but now, here she was, a full two days after the even and still she couldn't forget about him. 'I have to be strong' she thought to herself, 'For Estelle's sake' and with that final thought she fell asleep on her desk.

**A/N: Please review my work. This is my first time writing a tragedy fanfic so sorry if it's not perfect.**


	2. Chapter 2

The loud cheers coming from her bedroom awaked Rita, she jumped with a start as she realised that her clothes were wet, probably from all the tears that she cried last night. She washed up and changed her clothes; she then went to the central courtyard where everyone was congratulating Estelle on her 20th birthday, she approached her with a smile on her face, "Happy birthday Estelle"

"Thank you Rita" she said hugging her best friend, "That means all the world to me."

"Yeah" Rita said hugging her friend back. Throughout the day Rita was busy ordering knights and other various people to decorate the place in time for the party tonight, she enjoyed it since it allowed her to vent some steam but also it made her forget about Alexander, if only for a while, by the time the decorations and preparation were all done Rita was exhausted and went back to her room for some much needed rest. Soon night descended on her and she was awoken by the sound of fireworks, "Crap, I lost track of time" she said and hurried to get herself ready.

She ran downstairs just as the guests started to arrive, she calmed herself down and greeted the guests. Among them were the Brave Vesperia members, 23-year-old Yuri Lowell, along with his dog Repede, was the first to arrive wearing his normal outfit giving Estelle a big hug and he said something to make Estelle laugh. Next was old man Raven and 14-year-old Karol Capell arrived with Karol nervously saying happy birthday and Raven making some perverted comment resulting in Rita sending him flying. Finally Judith arrived wearing a noblewoman's outfit of all things; she seemed to have walked to the castle since she stated that she left Ba'ul back at the edge of town.

Soon the party was in full swing, there were music and plays as well as some comedies from Karol and Raven though they more or less came from the actors themselves then from the content of their comedy. Soon the birthday cake came with Flynn along with Soida, both wearing a knight's outfit, bringing it, "Happy birthday Estelle" he said. Estelle smiled, "Thank you Flynn" and blew the candles from her cake. Then the dances came, everyone grabbed a partner, even Raven and Karol managed to get someone, except for Rita; that's not to say that she didn't get anyone but whenever she danced with someone she is immediately reminded of Alexander and the pain that was in her heart and she would break off contact with the person until the next person asked her to dance thus repeating the cycle over and over again.

However soon it was only Yuri and Estelle dancing, everyone else backed away and saw two of Brave Vesperia's greatest members dance, as they were dancing Yuri said something to Estelle and she blushed before giggling. It was a romantic dance with a slow beat and Rita was again reminded of her broken heart it took all her strength not to cry on the spot. She noticed that Yuri and Estelle were whispering to each other a lot with both blushing now and again, soon the beat became a bit faster and so the dance became more frenzied until it suddenly stopped. Both Yuri and Estelle were breathing deeply and the applause of the crowed was deafening and Estelle was about to leave when Yuri grabbed her.

Estelle looked at Yuri, unsure of what he wanted, Yuri said, "Estelle, I know that you've been a great friend to me, its almost like you're the sister that I've never had."

"Yuri…" Estelle said.

"Over the past years I've grown to admire you as you've grown so much since we met the first time here in the capital. So Estellise Sidos Heurassein" Yuri went on one knee and took out a box that had an engagement ring with a pink stone on it, "Will you marry me?"

The crowd went silent, Raven and Karol had their mouths open; Judith stood there smiling; Sodia opened and closed her mouths as though she wanted to say something but wasn't sure of what to say and Flynn stood there in utter shock before smiling. Estelle was also shock and she had put her hands over her mouth, soon tears welled in her eyes and she with a smile, "Yes Yuri Lowell, yes I will marry you"

The crowed cheered as Yuri put the ring on her finger then hugged before kissing each other; the crowed surged to congratulate them with Brave Vesperia dashing to get there first. Rita stood there for a minute before smiling and also going towards the couple but then, suddenly, an excruciating pain came from her chest and tears began to form in her eyes, 'Wait why am I crying?' she thought to herself, 'Is it because I'm happy for Estelle? No that couldn't be it, not that I'm not happy but I shouldn't be in this state' she continued to think about why she was in so much pain when suddenly like a lightbulb had been flicked on in her mind.

'I'm crying because I realised that now… I'm truly alone' she thought to herself as the truth came crashing into her mind, she sat down as she processed the logic in this, 'Now that Estelle and Yuri are engaged to be married I've realised that I've got no one to depend on, no one to love. Flynn has Sodia, Repede has Yuri to depend on, Karol has started dating Nan, Judith was said to be seeing someone though whether it was human or krityian I'm not sure and even Raven, Raven of all people, is rumoured to be seeing someone though I doubt that's going to last long but me? I've got no one, no one at all…' Rita's memory began to be flooded by images of Alexander and the pain became more and more intense, she found it hard to breathe and almost collapsed but then it stopped. Rita wondered why and she realised that she needed to do it, she had to or else the pain will consume her.

She got up and went towards Estelle, who, saw her and showed her the ring, "Look Rita, I'm engaged" Rita went over there and hugged tightly, "Congratulations Estelle, I'm really happy for you." Estelle smiled and giggled.

"Look Estelle, sorry to do this to you but I'm feeling a bit tired so I'll take an early nap, okay?" Rita said to Estelle.

"Oh really, okay then you worked hard today so that's understandable. Goodnight Rita." Estelle said

"Yes goodnight Estelle" Rita said with a smile then in a whisper, "And goodbye."

"Huh? Did you say something else Rita?" Estelle asked

Rita shook her head and went back to her room, the whole trip her legs felt like stone, that every step was heavy and she almost couldn't make it up the stairs to her room. The entire trip memories of Alexander continued to crop up and cause the pain to flare up again, the most vivid of them all was that rainy day when Rita's whole world came crashing and her heart was no longer whole but only a shattered remain of what it once was. She finally came to her room, she cleaned herself up and took out a yellow, frayed but still strong scarf and it was long enough for the job; it was the same scarf that she wore when she first met Estelle and Yuri. There was a beam on the ceiling of her room, she grabbed a chair and looped one end of the scarf on the ceiling making sure that it was tight then making a noose with the other end of the scarf, she got down and looked for any flaws, there were none, "Perfect till the end" she muttered.

She then went to the table and grabbed a parchment and some ink and started to write her final goodbyes to everyone, it read.

"_Dear Estelle_

_If you're reading this then its most likely that you've found me in my room dead, first off I'm really, really sorry that you had to see me like this. Please don't blame yourself for what happened to me, I did this to spare you the pain if I've kept on living. If possible can you please convey this message to the following people:_

_Yuri: Congratulations on marrying Estelle, I knew that one day you would do that, I'm just sorry I couldn't live long enough to see the wedding night. Take care of Estelle, if you don't I'll come back and send you to Aspio._

_Karol: Don't cry for me Karol, you've been like a brother to me and I would hate to see you cry. Be strong for the other Brave Vesperias okay? Hope you and Nan can stay together, she's perfect for you._

_Old man Raven: Despite the number of times I've hit you and sent you flying, deep inside I truly loved you. You were like a father to me, I hope you live a long life and don't do anything to damage that blastia heart of yours okay? Also please help Brave Vesperia go through with this especially Estelle and Karol; they'll need you the most._

_Judith: Ever since I've met you I felt like I've bonded with you more and more everyday, you were like a mother to Brave Vesperia. Please be a mother for them when I'm gone, I hope you find your true love one day. Give my regards to Ba'ul._

_Flynn: Take care of Yuri and Estelle for me okay? They'll be going through a rough time for a while, I know you'll take care of them. I hope that you and Sodia can be together one day._

_And finally to Estelle: My dear, sweet Estelle, I'm am truly sorry that I've left you, I know that you would be saddened to hear of my death and would continually blame yourself or question yourself if you could've saved me but the truth is that you couldn't, not from the pain in my heart. I'm sorry Estelle, I truly loved you and you were like a sister to me. I hope that you and Yuri can be happy as a family. I leave my goggle here for you, as a memento of our friendship and to remember me by._

_As I end this letter I want to say that I love each and every one of you, please don't blame yourself for what happened to me. Continue to live on for me, if only I was strong enough I would've like to go on another adventure with all of you._

_Goodbye everyone, I'll miss you._

_Forever yours_

_Rita Mordio, mage of Aspio_

As Rita ended the letter, she put her goggle beside it, 'So that's the end of the line for me' Rita thought, 'It's been short but it has also been fun' she grabbed the chair and climbed on it, put the noose on her neck and made sure that it was strong to support her weight. She looked out the window and saw that the fireworks were starting, she smiled 'Goodbye everyone' she thought to herself then she kicked the chair backwards and all she knew was darkness.

Estelle ran to Rita's room, she was worried about what Rita said. She felt that when Rita said goodnight there was finality to it, as though Rita would never wake up from her sleep. She arrived at Rita's room and knocked on the door, "Rita, are you awake?" she couldn't hear anything she was about to leaven when she heard a loud crash coming from Rita's room. Frantic she banged as hard as she could, "Rita! Rita! What's wrong? Open up!" Coincidentally one of the knights was walking by and seeing Estelle he ran up to him and asked, "Is there anything wrong princess?"

"It's Rita she wouldn't open her door and I just heard something." Estelle frantically said

"Okay, stand back" the knight said and when Estelle did he kicked the door bringing it down in one shot but what he saw made him stagger back and eventually he collapsed, Estelle saw what was inside…

Yuri and Karol were talking together about his recent proposal when suddenly Estelle's scream rang out from the castle, "Yuri" Karol shouted, Yuri had one look and ran towards the castle as did the rest of Brave Vesperia and Flynn along with a detachment of knights. He ran as fast as she could and saw Estelle and one knight collapsed on the floor with Estelle crying uncontrollably.

"Estelle, what's wrong?" Yuri asked. Estelle shook her head and pointed into Rita's room, Yuri looked to where she was pointing and he uttered a loud scream, Rita was in her room hanging from her favourite scarf, the rest of the team arrived and they were just as equally shocked with Karol falling down out of horror. Raven, however, recovered first and he threw his knife expertly towards the scarf severing it causing Rita to fall down with a loud thud. Estelle then rushed towards her best friend and using her healing artes she tried to revive Rita.

Flynn soon arrived and one look at Rita then the remnants of the scarf was enough to tell him everything, he ordered the knights, "Get the healers. Now!" he screamed making the knights scramble to find the healers. The rest of Brave Vesperia could only stand there in utter shock and confusion as Estelle desperately tried to revive her friend, "Please wake up Rita" she pleaded tears running through her face.

Soon the healer arrived and checked Rita's vital sign he sighed, "She's still alive but just barely, we need to take her to the infirmary."

"Go" Flynn said and Rita was taken on a stretcher and was taken to the infirmary with Estelle with her the whole time.

Karol looked at Yuri with a look of horror on his face, "Why Yuri… why?" he asked.

For once Yuri wasn't his calm self, he was utterly shocked and devastated, "I don't know" was all he could whisper.

"I'll go to Estelle" Judith said and Raven followed her. Flynn went inside her room and saw the letter, "Yuri, get in here" he said

Yuri went in and Flynn gave him the letter, Yuri read the letter and he collapsed on her bed crying his heart out, "What happened Flynn? What happened?"

Flynn comforted his friend, "I don't know Yuri but when Rita wakes up we can ask her ourselves, for now go be with Estelle, she'll be the ones suffering the most."

Yuri nodded and went to the infirmary, as did the rest of the team. Flynn continued to sit on the bed still trying to wrap his head around of what just happened, "Why Rita?" he asked, "Why? I loved you" he said and soon he went out of her room and into his own so as to contemplate what had just happened.


	3. Chapter 3

Rita felt a warm feeling on her face and she could hear birds chirping, 'Is this heaven?' she thought to herself, 'Am I really dead?' but then she heard voices although it was distorted and she could only catch bits and pieces of it.

"…she'll wake up probably today if not now…"

"Brave Vesperia… devastated… such a tragedy"

"…On the princess' birthday… how is she?"

"Saddened... Yuri's taking care of her… will visit today"

'No, no, no, no' she thought to herself as the reality set in, somehow she had managed to come out alive, perhaps Estelle or one of the knights discovered her too early. As soon as she heard the voices stopped she slowly opened her eyes and saw that she was in a private room reserved for nobles with illnesses, she looked around her and saw nothing more than some couches, a table and a painting of the castle. No one else was around she tried to get up but couldn't move her arms she looked beside her and saw that her arms were bound by leather straps that held her firmly.

"You're awake" a voice said, she looked to where the voice came from and saw Yuri leaning on the wall, his eyes were red and puffy from crying and it looked like he still hadn't changed since the party.

"Yuri I-" Rita started when she heard a crack and a warm feeling on her face as well as pain; she looked back at Yuri who had just slapped her.

"What, what were you thinking?" Yuri said nearly screaming, "What is wrong with you?"

"You wouldn't understand!" Rita screamed, "You wouldn't understand what I'm feeling right now."

"Then tell me! Tell me why? I, no, we deserve at least that much."

Rita looked away from him and didn't say anything, Yuri punched the wall before leaving the room but not before saying, "The others will be coming this afternoon, I hope you're ready to answer some questions"

"Damn you Yuri, why couldn't you just let me die" Rita screamed after Yuri, "Why? Why?" afterwards she felt tired and collapsed on her bed tears streaming out of her.

Soon breakfast and lunch came, although the food was delicious, she noticed that most of them were finger-foods, bread and vegetables. Not one utensil were present, perhaps a precaution that Estelle had set, she also noticed that a guard, Sodia for most of the time, was present in the room. She tried to ask her anything about the condition of Brave Vesperia, Sodia closed the book she was reading and reported, "What do you think Rita? They're devastated of course, Estelle hasn't stop crying and Yuri has been comforting her; Flynn is a bit better but he's still trying to wrap his head around what had just happened; Judith and Raven are in another room comforting Karol, they're also feeling devastated at your stupid actions. So tell me Rita what do you think things are going?"

"Right" was all Rita could say.

"Right? Right? Is that all you could say, you tried to kill yourself, worry your friends and the princess and all you could say is 'right'? Just who do you think you are?" Sodia said standing up.

"You wouldn't understand"

"So I've heard… get some sleep Rita they'll coming to visit you soon."

They did come in the afternoon, all of them did. Estelle immediately rushed to her friend with a concerned look on her face, "Rita" she whispered, Karol was standing at the foot of her bed and the others were on the couches. Even Flynn was there and she could see that his eyes were also puffy and red like the others, "So tell me Rita" Yuri said, "Tell us everything"

Rita chuckled a bit but then realised that it wasn't worth arguing so she narrated them her story, from meeting Alexander until the day he shattered her heart. As she narrated the story the pain began to come back and whenever she felt that it was too much Estelle would be there to comfort her, at the end of the story. Everyone had a concerned look on their face as they understood why Rita had done what she did, they were also angry at Alexander, that he had broke her heart and deprived her of the one chance she had at true love. Flynn was even more furious, he was practically shaking, with barely controlled anger he asked Rita, "Did this 'Alexander' had black hair, emerald coloured eyes and a slim body?"

Rita was surprised at this and she could see Raven and Yuri looking at Flynn as well but with a horrified look in their eyes, "Yes how did you- hey!" Rita said as Flynn stormed out of the room, "What did I say?"

Yuri looked at Raven who nodded and he chased after Flynn, Raven stood up and said, "I'll make it quick but the man ya saw wasn't a mage, he's real name is Nadir and he's a famous con-man who goes around and steals money through a legit business, I think that 'helium' you guys discovered was just his latest heist."

Rita was more devastated at this news and Estelle quickly comforted her, "Don't worry Rita, you'll find someone else"

"Who else Estelle, who else would love me?" Rita whispered and for once Estelle didn't have anything else to say.

"I gotta run folks, I have nasty feeling that Flynn's gonna go berserk on him" Raven said also running after the other two. The rest stayed to comfort Rita and to give her support.

Flynn was furious, he had just heard that Nadir or 'Alexander' as Rita called him had done it again, he had never been caught because he had never caused any real harm to the Empire and the corrupt system wouldn't even bother him if paid his bribes but now that the system is no longer corrupt Flynn can finally bring him to justice, he halted in front of the Side Bar, a pub well known to house the capital's most dangerous and seediest men. He knocked on the door and a pair of beady eyes appeared from a slot, "Password?" it asked.

"I am an Imperial knight, let me through now" Flynn said with a calm voice.

The bouncer laughed, "No knight can come in here without a password" and closed the slot.

Flynn nodded then suddenly he kicked the door down with such force that it flew into the bar stand surprising the bartender and his patrons, he went inside radiating such anger and fury that even the armed guards didn't want to do anything about this. With one look he sent them screaming outside, he looked around the bar and saw Nadir hunched and looking down on the table, he approached him and said, "You Nadir? Or should I call you Alexander"

"I'm Nadir but I ain't any Alexander" Nadir said

"Sure you're not now I want to talk with you for a minute, can you come outside" Flynn said with his usual smile.

"What does a knight want with me?"

"You've hurt one of my friend, a lot" Flynn said barely keeping the anger from showing in his voice.

"Yeah, well I've hurt a lot of people in my time, tell me which one and I may narrate you the story" causing the bar to lightly laugh before falling silent from Flynn's glare.

"Okay, the hard way it is" Flynn said and he picked up Nadir easily and threw him through the window.

"So kid, where do ya think Flynn's going?" Raven asked Yuri.

"Most likely the Side Bar, that's where the most seediest and dangerous men go to when they're in the capital" Yuri replied.

"Ya sure kid?" Raven asked.

"Yeah I'm sure cause-" his sentence was cut short by a loud crash that came from ahead of them they looked at each other and ran even faster and saw a man lying on the ground, a broken window and one very angry Flynn. He came out of the pub and commandeered a horse where he grabbed a rope and tied Nadir's leg onto the back of the harness with enough slack so that he can move sideways, "Oh he is not doing what I think he's doing" Yuri said.

Flynn then got onto the horse and he rode it with Nadir behind scraping and banging his head with every movement, "And he did" Yuri said.

"There's no way we're gonna catch up with him" Raven said.

"If I was Flynn I would go to the execution grounds" Yuri replied.

"Ya sure? That's a bit harsh" Raven said.

"Yeah well what he did to Rita was even harsher"

Raven nodded and the two of them rushed to the execution ground. When they did arrive Flynn had just arrived with a bruised, bloodied and unconscious Nadir, he unwound the rope and picked Nadir up, there was already a noose set up. "Flynn no!" Yuri shouted and ran to his friend who was about to do the greatest mistake of his life. He reached Flynn and tried to hold him back.

"Get off me Yuri, he's dead, he's dead" Flynn said.

"This won't help things" Yuri said.

Nadir woke up and saw Flynn when he started to run when Raven stood in his way, "You're not going anywhere" Raven coldly said.

"He will die today Yuri, I will make sure of that, if not by hanging then I will gut him" Flynn screamed bringing in a curious crowd.

"Think about this Flynn, do you really want to be remembered this way? Huh? Do you?" Yuri screamed back at him.

Flynn stopped for a moment and calmed down a bit, "Yeah, you're right. We'll let the system punish him though it won't be any different." He walked towards Nadir and kicked him hard in the stomach, "That is for Rita" he said.

"Thank you, thank you" Nadir said crawling to Yuri who kicked him hard in the face.

"Shut up you bastard, you don't deserve to live. If it wasn't Flynn, I would've killed you long ago."

Two knights grabbed him and hauled him out to a waiting horse, "Where do you want to take this man sir?" he asked Raven.

Raven reverted to his captain mode and said, "Take him to the dungeon and make sure the trip isn't too pleasant for him if you know what I mean"

"Yes sir" the knight answered by now most of the knights knew what happened to Rita and they were anxious to start their own brand of justice on him, not enough to kill him but enough to get some steam out of them.

"Now what do I do Yuri?" Flynn asked

"I don't know, lets just take this one day at a time. Rita's going to need all the help she can get from us."

**A/N: I know it's a short chapter but I couldn't think of anything else to continue with the theme of the story. Please, pretty please review my work**


	4. Chapter 4

It has been three days since Rita had woken up, she had been allowed to go around the castle providing that she had a guard with her at all times, mostly Sodia, it had been a hectic three days. First of Nadir was captured by Flynn, she knew that because she could hear Karol screaming his lungs out about wanting to kill him, thankfully Estelle wasn't there to see that and Rita made sure that she was with her the whole time Nadir was being transferred to the dungeons. She heard that Flynn had nearly executed Nadir on the spot but Raven and Yuri stopped him before he could do anything stupid, then Nadir had been sentenced to death by a not so merciful Ioder, Rita wasn't there to see it and she wasn't allowed to since Flynn said it would be too traumatizing for her, naturally all future profits from the 'helium' bastia would go to Rita now but she didn't want it so it was kept in a secure location until she did wanted it.

Finally Flynn had continually went to check on Rita even when the others weren't there, "I just want to make sure you're still breathing" he would say with a smile. Rita wouldn't say anything, she was still hurting inside but it wasn't as bad as it was and she was looking forward to living instead of dying though she would never admit that to anyone else. Right now she was going to the garden where she would sit and contemplate her life, she ran into Flynn who was startled to see her, "Oh Rita. How are you?"

"Good Flynn, where are you going?"

"Oh me? Well I'm going to get some stuff for the knights."

"Right, well then see you" Rita said and she walked off when Flynn said, "Uhm Rita?"

"Yes?"

"Would you like to go out for dinner with me tonight if you don't have any plan?" Flynn said with an embarrassed look on his face.

Rita was confused for a moment, could she really go with Flynn, with another guy in her condition, she was flustered and blurted out, "I don't know."

"That's okay that's okay" Flynn said gesturing with his hands, "Just take it easy"

"Wait, yes I'll go" Rita said

Flynn looked at her with a concerned look, "Are you sure? Its okay if you don't want to."

"No, I'm sure. So when will you pick me up?"

"How about when the sun goes down? I'll pick you up in your room."

"Sure, okay. See you then"

She went off to the gardens where she was surprised to see Estelle and Yuri there, they were talking softly. She decided to give them some privacy when Estelle called out to Rita, "Come over here Rita."

"Nah, you guys need your privacy" Rita said jokingly

"Privacy?" Estelle said with a questioning look.

"Nah its fine Rita, you can have a seat." Yuri said ignoring Rita's comment.

"Then I'll be inside the castle if you need me" Sodia said and went into the castle waiting for Rita to come back.

Rita sat next to Estelle and said, "Well what were you guys discussing?"

"What else? Our wedding plans" Estelle said joyfully.

"Oh right" Rita said as she remembered what she wrote down on her goodbye letter about not able to join the wedding night. "So how's that going?"

"Great except I can't decide who to be my bridesmaid…" Estelle said with a mocked confused look on her face, Rita knew who she was going to ask.

She sighed and said, "If you want I can be your bridesmaid"

"Oh really Rita? Thank you " Estelle joyfully said hugging her.

"Then I guess Flynn's best man and the priest?"

"Yep you're right and Raven is the priest"

"Raven? Is he a minister"

"Got his credentials just today… through air mail"

"Bastard" Rita said, "Always goofing off." Then she remembered her meeting with Flynn and without knowing said, "Oh that's right Flynn's picking me up for dinner tonight."

"Huh?" Estelle and Yuri said simultaneously

"Are you sure Rita?" Estelle said, "It's a bit too early don't you think?"

"I know but I just said yes without me knowing it. It'll be fine I promise."

"Okay but come by my room when you're home so I know you're safe. Promise?"

"Promise, now I need to go to my room to change. See ya" and Rita went off to her room, soon the sun went down and she was dressed in her normal outfit complete with the goggles that Estelle had given to Rita. Soon a knock came from the door, "Is that you Flynn?"

"Yes, are you ready Rita?" Flynn asked, nervousness lacing his words.

She smiled and opened the door, Flynn had traded his knight's outfit for a simple nobleman's outfit similar to Yuri's normal outfit. "Wow" she said.

"What is it? Is it too much? I can change you know" Flynn flustered and was about to run off to his room when Rita caught him, "Don't worry Flynn, it's fine. Now lets go shall we?"

"Yeah" Flynn said then he turned to Sodia, "You can go now, I'll take over."

Sodia nodded and went off to her own destination; Flynn and Estelle went out of the castle and into the Zaphias' entertainment district. Along the way they saw fire-eaters, plays and musicians all intent on entertaining the nobles and commoners that came to this part of Zaphias for a good night out. They would watch a few shows and Rita laughed at one of the comedy plays prompting the play to be even more comedic than ever, Flynn paid the playwright a few galds for their trouble. They went to a popular restaurant that served some of Zaphias' finest cusine, Flynn had already booked a place to which the manager was more than happy to do.

Dinner was a joyful affair, Rita had never tasted such delicious food in her life, and there was no wine except for water since Rita was still underaged but that didn't matter for Flynn. They talked about everything up to and including Yuri and Estelle's wedding night, "So now that we're both best man and bridesmaid, what do you think we should wear?"

"I don't know" Flynn said, "I was thinking along the lines of a nobleman's outfit but Yuri hates that so, maybe something simple?"

Rita agreed, "Something simple or else Raven's gonna have a fit and I would probably have to punch him or something else violent" causing Flynn to laugh.

Soon they were heading back to the castle after going to a shop that Flynn knew served delicious ice creams, "Thanks for a great night out Flynn" Rita said.

"Sure no problem" Flynn said, "I hope you enjoyed tonight."

"I did and thank you Flynn, for always taking care of me." Rita said laying down her head on Flynn's arm causing him to blush and idiotically laugh.

"No problem but I guess the others are also worried about you don't you think?"

"They are but I can't stand the fact that they look at me with such concern I know what I did was stupid and selfish but can't they see past that and let me have my own life."

"Uh… well…"

"Oh I'm sorry I was rambling, that's my fault" Rita said then she ran ahead and said, "I'm going ahead, Estelle asked me to come by her room when I came back. Bye"

"Rita wait" Flynn called out, Rita came back and looked at him. Flynn took out a yellow scarf that he brought at one of the shops he gave it to Rita, "This is a new scarf that I've brought for you, since your old one was… well you know I thought you might like it."

Rita looked at the scarf before smiling, "Yes I do like it in fact I love it. Thank you Flynn, I'll always cherish it."

"No worries, it was the least I could do." Flynn said with a laugh, he escorted Rita all the way to the castle where they said their goodbyes and went to their respective destination, Rita went to Estelle's room where they talked about what happened tonight including showing her new scarf and Flynn went to his own room, happy that he made it through their first 'date' though Rita didn't know that it even was a date. He went to bed smiling and happy.

**A/N: Please review my work, I really do appreciate it. I'm hoping to add some quarrel between Rita and Flynn if I can, next chapter will also include Estelle's and Yuri's wedding so that's something to look forward to.**


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Flynn was walking towards his office when he bumped into Yuri, "Oh Yuri good morning."

"Good morning to you too Flynn how was last night?"

"It was wonderful, we had the best time of our lives last night. I even brought Rita a new scarf to replace the one that was lost."

"Huh? You two sure are hitting it off awfully quickly" Yuri said.

"Oh shucks" Flynn said with a smile, "Anyhow how's the wedding preparation? Is it underway?

"Yeah it is actually. It should be finished in a month or so."

"That's good to hear."

"Well then I have to go now, see you soon." Flynn went off but he was stopped by Yuri who whispered in his ears, "Flynn this is just my advice to you, be careful around Rita. Don't promise her anything like your love or anything like that and don't deny it I know how you feel towards her. She's still fragile at the moment and if she hears or sees something that is otherwise I don't know if we can save her a second time."

Flynn nodded gravely, "I know Yuri, I know. It's just how long should I wait before I can tell her?"

"Soon, soon" was all that Yuri said.

Flynn sighed and went off to his daily routine as a knight.

Rita woke up with a smile on her face, for the first time in days she was happy that she was still alive. She looked forward to seeing Flynn again but she was more happy that she was going to help Estelle planned her wedding night, she got dressed and had breakfast in the main hall then went off to Estelle's room. "Good morning Rita, have you had your breakfast?"

"Yeah I did, so lets get down to business" Rita said wit her usual cheerfulness.

For most of the day Rita and Estelle planned the wedding night, the arrangement of seatings, who to invite, the food and of course the musicians. Rita took down notes as Estelle rambled on what she and Yuri wanted the wedding to be like, she didn't mind she was used to Estelle's rambling. By dinner she was exhausted but glad that she could help out her friend on their most special moments, she then thought about Flynn and wondered about her own special moment. But then she quickly got that out of their mind, 'not yet' she thought to herself, 'not until I know he truly loves me.' She decided to have a stroll in town to get some fresh air and probably dinner as well, she took some galds with her and went straight to the entertainment district.

It was cool evening with many nobles taking advantage to go out for a stroll; Rita saw a couple of the plays that she encountered when she was with Flynn but she didn't stay around to watch it. She tried to go to the same restaurant that she and Flynn went to but she found out that it was booked and there wasn't any place left for her, she was okay with that she could try other restaurant and so she did, a seafood restaurant which she also found delicious and not to expensive either. She went to a couple of shops and brought some ink and parchment for the next day, she was just going towards the castle when suddenly a voice rang out behind her, "So you must be Rita Mordiro" she turned to face an attractive young man with blonde hair, unlike Flynn's, wearing a nobleman's outfit and an even attractive blue haired female krityian dressed in the traditional krityian outfit.

"Yes I am so what?"

The couple slowly approached Rita making her nervous; "Well ya see we've got a couple of bones to pick with ya if ya know what I mean."

"Who are you people? I've never seen you in my life?"

"Of course you haven't" the krityian answered, "But you have seen my lover."

"Your lover, like I'm interested in anyone else."

"So ya wouldn't happen to know a man named Nadir by any chance would ya?"

"Nadir? You mean… Alexander?"

"That's the one, now we heard that poor old Nadir got himself executed because of what ya told Flynn, and we're here to return the favour" the man roared as he lunged at Rita with a rapier intending to skewer her.

Rita easily dodged it and began running towards the castle, she couldn't hope to beat them in battle the way things are now and she was in a quite part of Zaphias with little to no knights around to help her, suddenly a lightning strike appeared in front of her despite the fact that it was a clear sky. She looked and saw that the krityian had cast an arte, "That's impossible you don't have any blastia" Rita cried out.

"No need for blastia when you have 'helium'" she said showing her weapons riddled with small mini-blastias, "Now die!"

Rita managed to dodge a second lightning strike but she then felt pain when she felt the rapier slice through her arm followed by a punch to the stomach. She doubled over in pain as she tried to breathe through the pain, "So the great mighty Rita has fallen, what's wrong? Can't beat a couple of commoners or right I forgot you don't have your artes." The man said laughing.

"You won't get away with this" Rita said through clenched teeth.

"Yes. We. Will. You. Good. For. Nothing. Mage" the krityian said emphasising each word with a kick to the stomach and one last kick to the face, now Rita was in excruciating pain and she could hardly breathe, it took all her might just to stay awake.

"We gotta move now in case one of the knight's show up" the man said and he positioned his rapier's point straight at Rita's throat, "This is it game over" the man said.

As Rita tried to think of a way to get out of her situation the rain began to start again, eventually Rita realised that there was no way out: she was in pain, in a quiet part of Zaphias and no help was coming. She hadn't even told Estelle where she was going. In a single moment she realised that she was going to die, 'No, not now' she thought to herself through tears, 'I just met Flynn, we were so great together I can't die now, not yet'. The man went for the finishing thrust when suddenly the man cried out in pain and dropped his rapier, "Damn it who was that?"

Rita managed to look behind her, standing a fair way behind Rita was Raven, bow in hand and an angry look on his face, "Now ya all might wanna back down before the next one goes in your head" he coldly said knocking an arrow into his bow, the man growled but the krityian whispered something in his ears before they both dispersed in opposite directions, "We'll be back little girl, just you wait for it" the krityian shouted.

Raven hurried to Rita's side, "Ya okay kid?"

"I think so" Rita said before collapsing in pain, "I think my ribs are broken or something."

"Here eat this" Raven said giving Rita an apple gel, "That should get you until we reach the castle."

Rita did feel better but the pain was there, "I don't think a gel will help me on this one."

"Don't talk just concentrate on staying alive, don't want ya to die on us now. Not when you went crazy before" Raven said sincerely hoping that he could get to the castle in time as he carried Rita to the castle.

They soon arrived but Rita was getting worse, it was hard for her to breathe now and she was getting sleepy with each minute but she fought to stay awake, "I need some help here" Raven shouted and soon knights came running who in turn called for healers. Brave Vesperia came running as did Flynn, Estelle screamed and ran to Rita, who, by this time was an utter mess, she was streaked with mud and her face was bloodied and her breathing was shallow and blood were coming out of her mouth. Estelle began to use her healing artes in an attempt to stem the flow of blood coming out of her mouth.

"What happened Raven?" Yuri asked.

"I was walking down to town ta get some stuff for da wedding when I saw two Rita on ta ground with two guys, one a human male wearing a nobleman's outfit and one a female kritiyan wearing ta traditional clothes, standing over her. I think they jumped her; the man was about ta skewer Rita when I fired off an arrow that hit him on da arm. They ran away after that but the krityian swore that they'll come for her" Raven explained

"Damn it" Flynn said and was about to order the knights to search for them when Raven said, "Don't bother Flynn, they'll be long gone by now if they have any brains in them."

Flynn took a breath and soon the healers arrived, "Damn, they really did a number on her, alright lets get her to the infirmary she's in critical condition." They brought out a stretcher and put her on there and rushed to the infirmary with Estelle close behind the rest of Brave Vesperia also followed them along with Yuri, "You coming Flynn?"

"No, I need to talk to Raven for a while"

"Right come by if you're finished"

Flynn sat down and looked at Raven, "Should I've gone with her Raven? Could I've saved her?"

"Doubt it kid, if not today then they would've jumped her sometime later in the future or used poison if they're intent on hurting Rita." Raven said, "Let's take this one day at a time."

"So I've been told, so I've been told" Flynn said.

**A/N: Sorry for another short chapter, I know I promised some arguments and the wedding night but I thought this would be good for character development. I promise for the wedding night next chapter if not the one after that.**


	6. Chapter 6

For most of the night Brave Vesperia and Flynn waited outside the infirmary as Estelle and the healers tries to heal Rita from the wounds she suffered, Karol was downtrodden, "Why does everything happen to Rita?" he asked no one in particular.

"Don't know, just maybe her bad luck" Judith said, even she was unsure if Rita could survive such a beating.

Meanwhile Flynn was pacing up and down the hallway trying to keep his mind occupied, "She'll be fine Flynn" Yuri said, "She's strong."

"I beg to differ" Flynn said.

"That was a different story" Yuri said knowing what Flynn was alluding to.

Estelle came out of the room, exhausted. The others stood up waiting for the news of Rita's condition, Estelle smiled, "Rita will be fine, we managed to stop the building and with rest the broken ribs will heal as well."

Everyone breath a sign of relief, "Can we visit her?" Flynn asked anxiously Estelle shook her head and replied, "Not yet, she's still sleeping and we need to keep her on observation for at least a week."

"I see" Flynn said disappointed, "Then I'll be going now. Thank you Estelle."

"No problem" Estelle said as Yuri took her hand and led her to their room, the rest went to their individual room as they prayed that Rita would be able to survive the coming week.

Rita woke up to Flynn's voice, "Rita, I'm here please wake up." She opened her eyes and smiled, "You're here Flynn, I'm so glad."

"Of course I would be here." Flynn said with a smile.

"How am I?"

"You're okay Estelle said that she stopped the bleeding inside you but you'll need to rest if you want the broken ribs to heal."

"No, I can't the wedding plans-"

"It's been taken care of by Judith. Don't worry Rita just concentrate on resting so you can go to the wedding night."

"When is that again?"

"In about 2 weeks time. So don't worry you'll have plenty of time to think about the wedding plans once you're rested up."

"Okay"

"Rita, I-I'm sorry I'm really sorry"

"For what?"

"For not protecting you when you needed me the most. I was so busy with the wedding plans and my duty as a knight that I forgot to protect you. I wished that I-" Flynn's words were stopped by Rita's finger on his lips, it was cold but at the same time warm.

"It's okay, I'm strong and I'll get over this. Just be there for me" Rita whispered before going back to sleep, Flynn smiled and sat there holding her hands and soon he also fell asleep. Yuri stood in the doorway smiling, he was glad that his best friend had found someone to love, even if she was underage but Rita's birthday was coming up in a month and then she would be of age to marry Flynn though he didn't know how Flynn would expect to marry a girl 6 years his junior but he'll find a way.

It was a slow week as Rita was mostly confined to her bed as she recovered from the wounds; she had been moved to a room for critically ill patients, which is next to the main infirmary so if there were any problems she could get immediate help. All of Brave Vesperia visited her and she enjoyed them, Karol however was a pain as he kept crying the whole time resulting in Rita whacking him on the head but caused Rita to have cough up blood, it was later found that it was just a temporary side-effect of the broken ribs healing though it didn't deter Flynn from barging into the room to be with Rita. When Rita was strong enough to walk it was only for a few minute accompanied by a healer so her body could get used to day-to-day functions; there were times when she collapsed from sheer exhaustion and she cursed herself for it however Flynn continued to visit her nightly just so she could have company and someone to talk to, she appreciated it and as a result grew to love Flynn even more.

A week and half later she was strong enough to walk on her own without any problems, she immediately went to Estelle's room who congratulated her in recovering and got Rita up to speed on the wedding preperations. She had missed a lot of information, there were going to be a bit of an excess of people coming on the night so they needed to make some last minute arrangements in terms of seatings and food but that could be easily handled, "Rita who else is coming? That wasn't that many people when I left."

"I know but I invited some of the guild heads to join in then they invited their top members and so on" Estelle replied with a smile.

"Estelle" Rita said with a sigh knowing how sometimes Estelle's friendliness sometimes got her into trouble.

"Oh don't worry me and Judith sorted that out, all that's left are the decorations. Can you please do that for me Rita?"

"Yeah sure no problem."

"Thanks, you're the best a person could ever want."

"Yeah just make sure you throw the bouquet to me alright?"

"What's a bouquet?"

"Never mind. I'll get to work then."

Rita left the room and shook her head, how could Estelle not know what a bouquet was? Talk about a sheltered life, Rita walked towards the exit of the castle, the wedding reception was next to a cathedral in Zaphias, it was spacious enough to accommodate even the extras that Estelle had managed to bring but as soon as Rita step out of the castle she felt an intense fear starting to well up inside her chest, she didn't know why but she felt that the man and krityian who had beaten here were hiding somewhere in front of her she could even hear the krityian taunting her, "Come here child, come and let me gut you" followed by a maniacal laugh. Rita breathing became rapid, she was hyperventilating and her knees were becoming weak, she took a step and she could swear that a blade was starting to be unsheathe she took another step and she could hear an arrow being knocked. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder and she screamed, "Go away, don't come near me. Please don't kill me!" she screamed over and over again.

"Rita, it's me Flynn" Flynn said shaking a frantic Rita, "Wake up, its alright I'm here."

Rita began to calm down but she was still hyperventilating, Flynn took her inside and she began to immediately calm down, "I can't got out Flynn" she said shakingly, "I can't go out, I'm too scared."

"I know, I know. I promise that I'll catch the ones that did this to you." Flynn said hugging her tightly. Although he had no leads on whom the attackers were he was determined not to let any of them ever hurt Rita again.

"But what if they come back or any one else for that matter" Rita said between sobs, "Do I have to keep looking over my shoulders for the rest of my life? I don't want that."

"I promise you that I will never ever let anyone hurt you ever again" Flynn promised.

"Promise me?"

"I promise, now come on. Let's take this one step at a time, we'll go to the place together."

They did went to the building together, Rita was shaking the whole way through and she was barely able to function, Flynn comforted her the whole way through and when they did arrive Rita was a wreck, she went to the bathroom to calm herself down with Flynn outside and when she finished she was like a new person. "Okay… let's do this." The rest of the day she and Flynn were busy arranging the decorations, it was a tiring task as Estelle wasn't too specific what she wanted but Rita tried her best. At the end of the day Rita was so tired she was literally sleepwalking with Flynn guiding her, when they arrive at her room she snapped out of her sleepwalk. She yawned and turned to Flynn, "Thank you Flynn for taking me to my room and… for always being there for me."

"That's okay Rita, that's what friends are for" Flynn said though secretly he wanted to be more than friends with Rita, "Okay sleep well Rita, I'll pick you-" Flynn's words were cut short when Rita pulled him closer to her and kissed him deeply, his face went as red as tomatoes. Rita's face also went red and she quickly went to her room. He turned around to see Yuri, "Did she…?"

Yuri nodded and Flynn felt like the happiest man in Zaphias, "How's that Yuri, she actually kissed me."

"I think it's out of gratitude than a show of love." Yuri stated.

"I don't care, she kissed me." Flynn silently laugh, "I think our relationship is getting better don't you think?"

Yuri sighed, "This is going to be a long month I think"

**A/N: So sorry I couldn't show you the wedding night as I promised, it'll be next chapter. So what do you guys think?**


	7. Chapter 7

It was finally the day of the wedding, despite the rushed decorations and last minute arrangements Rita and Flynn had managed to pull it off, the reception hall was spectacular and all the finest chefs had come to Zaphias to arrange the food. Rita woke up to a sunny morning, she went to the window and already there were a large crowd awaiting for the couple that were to bless them today, "This is going to be a good day" she said to herself. She then heard a knock on her door, "Who is it?" Rita called out.

"Lady Estelle wishes for your presence in her room" one of the knight's replied, "Okay tell her I'll be there soon." Rita called back; she got dressed and had a quick breakfast before heading to Estelle's room. She knocked on Estelle's door and after a muffled 'come in' she went in and what she saw made her mouth gape open: Estelle looked stunning, her pink hair had been washed and combed resulting in her hair shining with the morning sun, she wore a light coloured gray veil which covered her face which was attached to a white headdress; she had white gloves on her hands which was inlaid with her engagement ring; she wore white shoes but it was her main dress that stunned Rita: a white dress that reminded her of a swan with two fluffy spaulders on her shoulders, the torso was covered in a backless white wedding dress which was crisscrossed by gold engravings and she had an amulet, probably Yuri brought it, that had a purple stone set within it.

"Estelle… y-y-you look absolutely beautiful" Rita stuttering, "Yuri will surely love you more now than ever."

"Thank you Rita, you really are the best friend a person could ever hope for" Estelle said beaming.

"Nah, don't worry about it" Rita said also smiling, "By the way, where's the lucky groom?"

"You mean Yuri? He's in his room with Flynn getting ready for the wedding. Why?"

"Gotta talk to him, see you later."

"Don't forget the time of the service."

"I won't, see ya."

Rita went straight to Yuri's room; she knocked and heard Flynn said, "Come in." Rita went in and saw that Yuri was plainly dressed, he only wore a tuxedo with a black bowtie and a black pants along with black shoes, "As usual you're as plain as ever" Rita said.

"Yeah well don't won't the princess to be outshined by her dashing knight do we?" Yuri sarcastically said.

"Very funny Yuri," Rita retorted then turning to Flynn blushing, "Hello Flynn" ever since she kissed Flynn a few days ago, she had blushed whenever Flynn was around or even if Flynn's name was mentioned. She felt embarrassed that she did that but at the same time she wanted to do it again despite the vast age difference between them.

"Hello Rita, ready for the service?" Flynn said, he was happy that Rita had kissed him and he wished that the moment could be repeated again but he never pushed Rita, he wasn't sure if Rita was ready yet or not and he wasn't ready to lose her yet.

"Almost, just need to get my dress ready then I'll be set, how about you?"

"Same, I just need to help Yuri get some stuff ready then we'll be there."

"Then I'll help Estelle get ready after I got myself dressed. See you at the cathedral."

Rita went to her room and took out her own wedding dress, Estelle had brought it for Rita stating that it suited her to wear it, it was red silk gown that covered most of her body. It was beautiful but Rita thought that it didn't suit her personality but it did suit the occasion, Estelle said that she had sent similar dresses to the other Brave Vesperia members; she couldn't wait to see what Estelle had brought for the others though she had an inkling that it would be similar to her dress for Judith at least. She wore it and looked in the mirror, "Damn, I've gained some weight" she said to herself, "Or is it just the dress? Oh whatever, I need to run now."

Rita reached Estelle's room, Estelle was nearly ready she just had to apply some finishing touches to her dress, she turned and saw Rita, "Oh Rita, that dress looks lovely on you" she exclaimed.

"Haha, ya think?" Rita said.

"Of course, I picked it just for you. Don't you love it?"

"Yeah I do, thanks Estelle this means a lot to me. Are you ready?"

"Yep, let's go."

Rita and Estelle went to the main courtyard where nobles, knights and servants all lined up to congratulate Estelle on her marriage with Yuri, a carriage was waiting for them to transport them to the cathedral. Along the way Rita went over with Estelle what will be happening during the service as well as reminding her of what to do, "Now remember Estelle, when you enter the cathedral remember to walk slowly so that I have time to walk with you, don't go too fast. Also speak in a clear voice when Raven's addressing you and most importantly remember, don't be nervous it's your special day today."

Estelle simply nodded with every word, Rita wasn't sure if she was listening to her or she was already in her own little world. Rita could only hope for the best and that all will go according to plan, they finally arrived at the cathedral, it was like any regular cathedral with a stone foundation and several stained-glass windows and a huge oak door. The bells were pealing so loudly that Rita was sure that even people in Halure could hear it, Rita escorted Estelle to the bridal room where Rita again told Estelle what she had to do as well as some other minor stuff, "Don't worry Rita, I'll be fine" Estelle told Rita with a smile.

Rita smiled, "I know, I just worry for you. Now lets go before Yuri gets bored and runs off."

Finally the service began Raven, with his priest's garment, was at the altar as was Yuri and Flynn right beside him. Karol was there, in a tuxedo similar to Yuri and Flynn, with the wedding ring and Judith, with a similar gown to Rita except that it was azure blue, as well as several other people were at the front aisle waiting to congratulate the bride and groom, even Sodia was there though she felt awkward that she was at Yuri's wedding and even more surprised that she was even invited considering that she had stabbed Yuri just months ago. "We are here today ta celebrate the union of Estellise Sidos Heurassein and Yuri Lowell in the eyes of God," Raven proclaimed, "let us stand as da bride enters da cathedral" and there was a massive applause as Estelle, with Rita trailing behind, slowly walked towards the altar. Estelle was blushing the whole way, as though she couldn't believe that this was happening, she soon arrived at the altar right next to Yuri, who, Rita could hear whispering to Estelle, "You look beautiful today Estelle."

Estelle nearly giggled but managed to stop herself as per Rita's instruction she only managed to utter a thanks before falling silent. Rita took her place next to Estelle and looked to Flynn who smiled sweetly at her making her blush. The rest of the ceremony was straightforward and surprisingly went smoothly than Rita could've ever wanted. Finally the words that everyone was waiting for, "I hereby proclaim you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride." And everyone cheered as Yuri lifted the veil and kissed Estelle deeply, then Yuri picked Estelle up and carried her to the carriage that was waiting for her; despite being a breach of protocol Rita couldn't help but laugh at this, "That's just like Yuri, he could never stick to a plan."

The reception was much later at night; Rita and the rest had gone to their respective room to get some rest before the reception began. Rita herself was exhausted but had to get to the reception place in order to make sure that everything was ready for the night, she got to the ballroom and looked around to see if anything was missing. She then saw Raven dressed in a tuxedo and reading something off a parchment Rita approached him and said, "Old man, don't tell me you're the MC as well?"

"Yep, yours truly is gonna do the MC as well as popping out da special surprise." Raven said with a smile.

"What special surprise?"

"Oh something that me, Judith and Karol had thought up."

If it was just Raven and Karol then Rita would be worried but since Judith was in on it she knew that at least it wasn't going to be something stupid, though it still did worry Rita about this surprise. "If you do anything to ruin this I'll personally blow you all the way to Deidon Hold" Rita warned Raven,

"Relax, relax, nothing won't go wrong this time, promise."

Rita glared at Raven with her signature death glare but then dropped it, she still had a lot of work to do and she didn't want to waste her energy arguing with Raven. She turned to leave then said, "How's that blastia heart of yours? Still holding?"

"Yeah, don't worry this thing has plenty of juice ta keep me alive for another 100 years." Raven said with a smile, "More importantly how are ya doing?"

Rita knew what he meant and she felt uncomfortable, "I'm not going to check out early if that's what you mean" in her usual haughty way, "Anyway, I kinda still like breathing for the moment."

"That's good to hear, I don't know if Estelle can take it if you try to do it again."

"I know, don't worry as long as there's a damsel in distress there's always going to be a knight. Isn't that how it works?"

"What are you on about?"

"Nothing, nothing. Now I mean it about not messing up so don't."

"Roger" Raven said with a mock salute.

Night quickly descended and the reception was soon underway, Yuri and Estelle made a spectacular entrance as the newly named Mr and Mrs Lowell. Flynn had arrived a bit early to make sure that everything was okay but was glad to see that Rita was handling it well; Yuri, Estelle, Flynn and Brave Vesperia were seated at the guest of honour and there were plenty of tables to seat all the guests. Before the food arrived however there were speeches to be made, first off were Karol, Raven and Judith who each spoke about their adventures with Flynn and Estelle as well as what their thoughts were about them before, during and after the battle with the Adephagos they each ended in congratulating Yuri and Estelle's wedding and wished them a happy life and lots of laughter.

As best man Flynn was up next, he was wearing the same tuxedo that he wore to the service, "I've known Estelle for a long time and Yuri even longer. When I first met Yuri we were kids and the first thing he asked me was if he could beat me in a race, until that point he was sure that he could beat anyone in racing well that is at least until I proved him wrong," causing a chorus of laughter, "together we grew up together and trained together envisioning that we would one day change the world. When we both went into knighthood I knew that Yuri wouldn't be able to handle the pressure and duties that are required of a knight and I knew that he would quit sooner than later and my hunch was right as Yuri left after only a few months of service. However since he left he has gone through extraordinary changes that surprises even me, he has grown strong both in character and in power to the point that he bested me in a one-on-one combat and not only that, he saved the world to boot it. As for Estelle, when I first met her I pegged her as a caring, sweet and kind person who was ready to do anything to help someone, when I heard that she had left the castle I desperately searched the whole land for her but when I heard that Yuri was with her, I knew that she was in safe hands. So to Yuri and Estelle I hoped that both of you will be happy and there will be lots of laughter and tears, never forget that your friends are always there for you whenever you need us. Thank you" Flynn's ending was drowned by applauses and cheers, and Yuri could be seen hugging his best friend and saying a word of thanks to him.

Rita realised that it was now her turn, she almost forgot her whole speech however she regained her composure, "When I first met Estelle and Yuri they were going through my stuff back at Aspio along with Karol, I had half a mind to blast them back to wherever they came from but instead of doing that I confronted them and went on the most amazing journey that I could ever think of, and I'm glad I did or else I wouldn't be here. Estelle has been like a sister to me, whenever I was in trouble or going through a rough time she was there in a flash ready to render me any assistance she could, she saw past my exterior and brought out the good side of me despite my constant complaints and for that I'll always cherish you Estelle. Over the years I've come to terms with Yuri, at first he always picked on me but I could never seem to be able to retort back to him but after a while I got used to him and now he's like an older brother, always picking on the younger sister. So to Yuri and Estelle, hope you have a great life together and here's hoping to your health." Everyone applauded at Rita's speech and Estelle were beaming for her best friend.

Finally it was Yuri's turn to talk, "Thank you everyone for coming here tonight, now I know that's a bit cliché but I really mean it. Especially to the guild heads, the knights and most importantly to my friends, the members of Brave Vesperia, when I first met Estelle I was trying to escape from the castle after spending a night in one of their dungeons and believe me I never expected to go on an adventure that would result in me saving the world, however I've met some interesting people and now I'm glad that I've met Estelle. So to everyone here thank you for coming and enjoy the night." Yuri received the biggest applause of the night and soon the music and food came along with the end of his speech.

The rest of the night went like a blur until the dance, Yuri and Estelle were the first on the floor followed by the rest of Brave Vesperia, Rita sat there reminiscing about her life and tonight and how it could've changed on that one night, the one night where she almost ended her life. Flynn came up to Rita and held out his hands, "Can I have this dance?" he asked with a smile.

Rita laughed and took his hands, Rita would never forget that one single moment where it was only Flynn and Rita, they danced to the slow beat of the music and she could almost hear her and Flynn's heart beating at the same time then just as the music began so did it suddenly stopped. Rita and Flynn continued to hold hands for a few minutes until they realised what had happened and let go. Rita went out to the balcony to get some fresh air and to be away from the bustling voice of the people, Flynn soon joined her, "It's a cool evening tonight" he said.

"Is that the best you could do?" Rita said with a smirk.

"No but that's the most appropriate that I could think of" Flynn replied making Rita punch him lightly on the arm.

"Tonight is there night," Rita said, "They deserve it."

"You're right about that, look Rita I-" Flynn started but was stopped by Rita's finger.

"I know what you want to say but please Flynn, maybe a bit later. I don't think I'm up for another try."

Flynn smiled and held Rita's hand to his face, "I understand Rita, just tell me when you're ready. I'll be waiting for you then."

"Thank you Flynn I-" Rita's words were cut short when suddenly Flynn grabbed Rita and pushed her to the ground, "Rita look out" he cried. Rita hit the deck just as she felt a warm sensation and when she looked up she saw a fireball passing her. "A shame that didn't hit you girl" a familiar voice said, Rita looked behind her and said with horror in her voice and eyes, "Y-y-you.."

**A/N: There's the wedding chapter, hope you like it. I haven't been to many weddings so I'm not sure if this is accurate. But hope you like it, now its seems Rita got herself into another mess. You can pretty much guess who the attacker is anyway, wait for the next chapter. Oh and please R & R.**


	8. Chapter 8

Rita saw the krityian on top of the biggest dragon that she had ever seen; it was almost as big as Ba'ul. The krityian was heavily armed with a bow, sword and spear while wearing chain mail armor, "I told you that I'd be back to finish you off" the krityian said.

The rest of Brave Vesperia soon rushed out with their signature weapons in hands, Flynn grabbed a sword from one of the guards and pointing it to the krityian said, "You are in violation of Imperial laws, surrender now or we will be forced to use force" he said anger lacing his words.

The krityian laugh, "You think I care what you puny laws can do, I am on top of a dragon if you haven't notice" patting the dragon's head.

"Yes and I have a bigger dragon" Judith said calling Ba'ul who rammed the dragon knocking the krityian off, however, she jumped from the dragon and landed gracefully in front of Flynn, "Hmmm that is a big dragon but I have the advantage of artes which I believe you don't have."

"Where's that man of yours huh?" Karol asked.

"Who? Nadir's good-for-nothing brother? I fed him to my dragon, he was of no use to me anymore" the team shuddered at the cold-hearted krityian who would happily feed her ally to a dragon.

"Why are you after me?" Rita asked, "Just for one man?"

The krityian's eyes flashed with anger, "That man was the one man who I loved outside of the krityain species, the one man who I was about to marry when you took him from me, so just like you humans say: an eye for an eye," taking out her spear which glistened dangerously in the moonlight, "a life for a life."

"We won't let you hurt Rita, you've done enough damage" Estelle said.

"And besides you really think that you can beat all of us? The heroes of the world?" Yuri said with a cocky smile.

"Normally I say no but this time, I've brought a little something that should occupy you while I gut that little mage" the krityian said as she clicked her fingers, immediately two figures jumped from the shadows and appeared beside her, one was a red haired teenager wielding a sword in her left hand and the other was a green haired teenager also wielding a sword in her right hand. Both were wearing chain mail armor.

"Gauche, Droite" Raven said, "Aren't you two supposed ta retire in peace?"

"You killed our father and the orphanage's main source of income, we're here to have our revenge" Gauche said.

"Yeah, what she said" Droite said.

"Oh bother, even without blastias they're a nuisance" Karol said and Repede barked in agreement.

"Well we gotta win guys, lets go" Yuri said and Brave Vesperia launched into action, Rita got up but was held back by Flynn, "You can't be in this fight Rita" he stated.

"What! Why? I'm a member of Brave Vesperia as well" Rita retorted angrily.

"They're after you, so you're their main concern also you've lost your spells which were your main source of attack, you're only going to be in everyone's way at this point." Flynn said blocking an attack by Gauche.

Rita saw that he has a point and ran back towards the shadow where she could hide from the krityian. Karol and Yuri were engaged in combat with Droite while Raven, Repede and Flynn were fighting with Gauche. Rita couldn't see where the krityian was until she felt that she was right behind her.

"Die mage" the krityian said pointing the spear directly towards Rita but at the last moment it was knocked off course by Judith's spear, "Oh no you don't, you're facing me."

"Why do you fight for these humans? You too are a krityian." The krityian asked.

"I fight for them because they're my friends and I care for my friends, you on the other hand are a disgrace to the krityians, how could you do this?"

"How? Because I can, for years I have been cooped up in that city that you krityians call home, I ran away as soon as I could and now I've felt what humans call freedom."

"Freedom? This isn't freedom you're still enslaved to your own selfish desires, true freedom is when you're with friends you love and care about and doing the things that you love best. This isn't freedom, this is revenge!"

"You may be right about that but in the end I will be the survivor, take this" the krityian then brought down two lightning strikes onto Judith who easily dodged it. She countered it by dashing towards her attacker and trying to skewer her but she easily dodged it. "Come on is this the best you can do?"

Meanwhile Repede, Karol and Raven's battle with Gauche wasn't going so good, the little girl still had the ability to fight all out, "Come on" Karol said to Gauche, "Just give up, its not worth your life to get revenge."

"Shut up! You wouldn't know anything about what we've been through, the pain we experienced as the orphanage began to close down, it was only because of some sympathetic people that the orphanage remained open. But if it wasn't for them we'll all be on the streets by now!" Gauche said stabbing at Karol.

"Then why did ya go to us? I mean I know we killed Yeager but still…" Raven said.

"And be in debt to you? Not a chance!"

"Stubborn as ever don't ya think Karol?"

They tried to overwhelm Gauche with numbers but she was too fast for them weaving in and out making sure that she was never exposed. However she hadn't counted on Repede biting her leg and making sure that she couldn't move anywhere Karol then slashed at her shoulder resulting in a nasty gash on her right shoulder, "Gauche!" Droite cried out, she repelled Yuri's sword and went to her twin's aid.

By this time everyone was exhausted, they began closing in on the Leviathan Claw twin, "Give up Droite and Gauche, there's no way you can beat us without your blastias" Yuri said.

"Same goes to you." Droite and Gauche said simultaneously.

"Yeah but we're stronger, that's the difference"

Gauche and Droite looked to each other then back behind them. Gauche nodded and said, "Okay then" she then took out a bomb and threw it towards Yuri and the others, "Damn it's a bomb hit the deck" Karol said and threw himself to the ground. However instead of the explosion that Karol was expecting that was only a small pop and instead a parchment came out that read, 'If you thought this was a bomb then you're an idiot'. Gauche and Droite were long gone by then.

"Well that was something I never expected" Yuri remarked.

"You're right about that" Estelle agreed, she then heard the sound of battle, "Oh Judith, she's still fighting."

Judith was still fighting and she was losing in terms of strength, speed and endurance, the krityian had a wider range of arsenal to fall upon other than her spear, her spells were getting annoying as well as getting more accurate each time it was cast while Judith had only her speed and spear to rely on. "What's wrong? Getting tired?" the krityian said mockingly.

Judith smiled a bit, "Not in the least just excited that I hadn't had this much fun in ages."

The krityian's smirk went off her face and she growled, "Time to finish this" as five fireballs appeared and propelled themselves towards Judith, "Damn I can't dodge them" Judith said. However the fireballs were then cleaved in two as Flynn appeared.

"Give up now, your little acquaintances ran away" Flynn said.

"I never did expect them to keep my end of the bargain but no matter I still have my dragon, come Argon" she called out to her dragon however there was no response, instead Ba'ul arrived.

"It seems your little dragon was beaten by Ba'ul" Judith said, "Now what are you going to do?"

The krityian was shaking in fury, she drew her sword and threw them at Flynn, "Die" she snarled and dashed towards Flynn, however Flynn dodged the sword and with a single powerful thrust drove the blade into the krityian's stomach. The krityain stopped and coughed up blood, her eyes became glazed however she continued to smile, "You think I was trying to hit you knight?" she asked in between gasps of breath, "Think again."

Flynn looked confused for a moment then with horror looked back, the sword had found its target in Rita's chest, she looked confused for a moment before backing to a wall. As she began to realize what happened she collapsed to the ground, "RITA!" Flynn cried out as he kicked the krityian off his sword, the krityian backed towards the railing and said almost in a whisper, "In the end I won didn't I?" before falling from the railing and into oblivion.

Flynn rushed to Rita's side, she was already coughing large amounts of blood and her breathing was becoming more and more faint by the second, by this time rain had fallen upon them and lightning flashed in the sky, pelted by rain the blood became think and flowed like a river from her mouth. She looked at Estelle who was trying to stem the flow of blood, "E-e-estelle" she gasped.

"Don't talk" Estelle said, "Just don't talk."

"Don't bother" Rita said, taking a breath, "The sword's gone straight to my heart, even if you pull it out I'm dead anyway."

"Don't say that Rita please, I can't lose you."

"Don't worry about me, I'm just glad that I could go to your wedding even if I did ruin it in the end." Rita smiled and gave a light laugh.

"No you didn't" Estelle said through tears, "I'm glad you came, just please don't talk, keep your strength."

"Take care of Yuri and the others. Hope you start a happy family, hey can I ask you a selfish favor?"

"Anything for you Rita."

"If your baby's a girl can ya name her after me?"

"Of course, I think Rita's a wonderful name."

"Thanks Estelle, I never told ya how much I loved ya didn't I?" Rita laughed causing more blood to flow out of her mouth; she turned to Flynn, "Flynn…"

Flynn took her hand and placed it on his hand, "Please Rita stay awake" Flynn said through tears, he was shaking uncontrollably.

"Flynn, I don't think I'm going to make it."

"No, don't say that Rita. I love you. God damn it I love you with all my heart"

Rita smiled and with effort held her hand on Flynn's face, "And I loved you Flynn, I know I was always pushing you away. At first I thought it was because of what happened with Nadir but I began to realize that it was because I was afraid to love again, to give it another go, so I vowed never to fall in love again. But then I met you and for some reason you were always there for me, caring for me, supporting me. That's when I realized that I have fallen in love with you and even then I was still afraid because of what you could've or might've said and now I'm regretting never taking that chance." Rita looked at Flynn with sadness in her eyes, "Because I may never get a chance to say this to you Flynn I just want to say thank you for everything you've done for me and Flynn… if you've asked me I would've gladly said yes."

"Rita…" Flynn muttered, "Please…"

"Good bye Flynn, you'll always be in my heart, take care…" Rita said as she closed her eyes, 'So this really is the end for me, well I at least knew what it was like to be in love. Thank you Flynn, see you in the next life' as her final thought rang out through her head, as she felt the rain mingled with Flynn's tears pelt her face and as darkness clouded her final vision of Flynn's face she could faintly hear Flynn calling out her name.

**A/N: Sorry to leave you this cliffhanger, so what do you guys think? I'm not really good at fight scenes so it's a bit short in terms of it but I think I got the character down pat. Well the conclusion of this story is nearing, look out for the next chapter as to whether Rita lives… or dies. R & R.**


	9. Chapter 9

Rita woke up to a bright light and birds chirping, 'Am I dead for real this time?' she thought to herself, "Or am I back in the castle?" She opened her eyes and saw that there was nothing around her except the blue sky, she looked below her and saw that she was on top of a cloud and to boot it she had wings on her back. 'Yep its official, I'm dead. Sorry Flynn but looks like that's the end of the road for me.'

"Do you vont zat to be va end of va road ja?" a familiar voice asked. Rita turned around to see a tall man with black hair wearing the all-so familiar Leviathan's Claw uniform, "Yeager" Rita spat the word, "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Vat do you zink I'm doing here? Playing poker?" Yeager sarcastically answered, "I'm va doorman for ze entrance to heaven." As he dramatically showed a pearly white gate.

"Okay…" Rita said, "So what do you mean if I want that to be the end of the road?"

"Vell do you still vant to go back to Flynn? Or accept your fate and go inside ja?"

"Well I want to go back to Flynn but if it's my time then I guess I'll have to accept it."

"Oh is zat so? I've been ze doorman for quite some time and let me tell you ze number of times zat souls vho zought zeir time had come were allowed to go back to ze world of ze living."

"Huh? Is that so? So what's the price for going back?"

"Nozing, sometimes I get an order to pull zis lever here," pointing to a lever, "And zat will send the soul back to ze world of ze living."

"Well do you have an order? If not then I would like to…" Rita started but were unsure if she really wanted to accept it, "How long do you usually have to wait before you get an order?"

"Depends on ze what ze higher ups are zinking that day, if zey're kind zen you get yours today if not zen you need to get in." Just then a parchment materialized out of nowhere and Yeager grabbed it, he read it before smiling.

"Little mage, can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure what is it?"

"If by chance you are sent back to ze world of ze living, can you take care of my daughters for me?"

"You mean Gauche and Droite?"

"Ja, zey still zink zat fighting is ze only way to make money for ze orphanage, but wiz ze way zey're going now all zat is going to get zem is an early grave so can you help zem find a job."

"Yeah sure, but how do you know if I'm going back?"

"Vell I just got my order now, bye-bye and don't' forget your promise and tell Gauche and Droite zat Yeager loves zem very much." He suddenly pulled the lever and a trap door opened below Rita. She screamed in surprise, "YEAGER YOU BASTARD!"

Rita woke up with a start and the first thing she heard was Flynn calling out her name, she turned and saw everyone was gathered in the room, "Guys, Flynn."

"Thank goodness you're alright" Estelle said.

"How did I manage to survive?" Rita asked, "I thought the blade went into my heart."

"Technically it did," Karol said, "But somehow Estelle and the healers managed to pull the sword out and stem the blood that was coming from it but…"

"But…" Rita asked in dread.

"But your heart was damaged during the healing process" Yuri said solemnly.

"Damaged? How bad? Wait don't tell me… I only got a few years to live" as Rita started to cry.

"Nah nothing like that at all," Raven said with a smile, "You'll live to an old grumpy woman."

Rita was about to punch him when Yuri held her back, "You can't do that anymore Rita, if you overexert yourself you heart will give out and you'll die for real this time."

"So no more adventures for me?" Rita asked secretly relived at least it wasn't as bad as she expected.

"Nope, no more adventure for you our little genius mage, but that's fine with you right?" Yuri said with a smile.

"Well, as long as I have Flynn I think I'll be fine," Rita said as she smiled at Flynn and held his hand, "and besides I'm getting tired of researching and fighting monsters, I think I'll settle down here in Zaphias."

"That's great news Rita," Estelle said, "I'll make sure to set you up a nice house in the noble's quarter."

"Thanks Estelle, so how long do I need to stay in bed for?"

"Probably for another week until the healers are sure that your heart is fine."

"Another week? Damn, anyway how long was I out for?"

"More like dead… for at least an hour your heart wasn't beating but then it miraculously started beating again and you were rushed to the critical ward for the second time in your life." Yuri said.

"I was dead for an hour?" Rita exclaimed, "Explains my weird dream," Rita then remembered her conversation with Yeager and she said to Yuri, "Yuri I need to talk to you about guild stuff."

"Okay, hit me." Yuri said.

Rita narrated her whole experience with Yeager and her promise to him; everyone went silent as they tried to digest what Rita had just said. Rita took one look at everyone and said, "Look I can't vouch that what I experienced was real but considering what Gauche and Droite said about us nearly bankrupting the orphanage I though you should know."

"It does sound like Yeager ta talk about something like that," Raven said, "But ta you of all people?"

"Hey I was conveniently dead for an hour so that was probably his window of opportunity to get his message across without literally possessing someone to tell Yuri" Rita said with a smile.

"Well, I'll think about it Rita but we have to remember that Gauche and Droite did try to kill you."

"But that was because they were under orders from that krityian woman," Estelle said, "Besides I think we can allow Gauche and Droite into Brave Vesperia and Rita's money from the 'helium' blastias can help fund the orphanage."

"The problem is if Gauche and Droite will even talk to use without brandishing their swords the moment they see us." Karol said with worry.

"You leave them to me" Rita said.

"Rita…" Yuri warned her.

"Don't worry I'm not going to kick the bucket anytime soon, I'll take it easy."

"Fine, I just need to know where they are at the moment."

"Most likely the orphanage since that's where they spent most of their childhood at."

"Okay, I'll go look for them and concentrate on resting."

"Thanks guys, and thank you Flynn." Rita said as she laid down her head on Flynn's arm.

For the rest of the week Rita was confined to bed, she wasted time by talking to Estelle who visited her everyday as well as Flynn at night and whenever he had time in between his duties as commandant of the knights. They discussed things ranging from the weather to the location of Rita's house in Zaphias, Estelle wanted the house near the castle both for protection and so that Estelle can come visit her daily but Rita didn't want knights marching up and down the suburb where the house was at so in the end they compromised and picked a house that was well-protected by the knights but wasn't near the main road towards the castle. Rita also had to do some physical therapy so that she got used to her heart's condition, it was hard at first Rita was always the impulsive type, she wasn't prone to thinking about the situation and most of the time went head first into the situation, much like Yuri; now however she had to calm down and give herself some time to think about the situation, she couldn't even run but can only do a light jog at least until her heart got used to the strain. However Flynn and Estelle helped her through the process and before she knew it she was up and about helping Estelle with some trivial details like book reading or even shopping.

Rita and Flynn also started dating a bit more than they had; they visited all over Zaphias and ate some exotic food. Once Flynn took Rita all the way to Halure, Estelle was against this as there could be monsters about but Flynn said not to worry since he took a retinue of knights with him to escort Rita and Flynn to Halure; they saw the beautiful blossoms that the Tree of Halure and had a picnic underneath it, together they saw the sunset as it went underground to singal the beginning of the night and spent the night at Halure but not before Flynn sent away his retinue of knights. The next morning Ba'ul was there to pick them up and accompany them back home, however, the trip to Halure made Rita cherish Flynn more than ever and she was glad that she was with him.

The turning point that Rita experienced was her talk with Gauche and Droite, Yuri had managed to track them down at their orphanage, they had put up a resistance when Yuri asked them to come to Zaphias but eventually Yuri managed to drag them to Zaphias with Ba'ul's help. Rita went to a room where Yuri was keeping them and when she first saw them they were bounded to the chairs, "Let them go," Rita said and when the knights looked at her, "Don't worry they're not going to attack me." Without any choice they did what Rita asked, Rita sat down across from them and said, "Well then do you know why you're here?"

"Yuri said its because of something Yeager said wasn't it?" Droite said.

"Don't listen to her Droite of course it wasn't Yeager he's…" Gauche began to say but trailed of still not believing that their foster father was dead.

"Dead?" Rita finished for her, "I know that its hard for you to take my word for it but believe me when I tell you that Yeager really doesn't want you to keep fighting for the wrong people, he cares about you and wants to tell you that he loves you."

Gauche and Droite didn't say anything for a moment, Droite looked like she was going to cry for a moment and Gauche comforted her after a while she asked, "So what do you want with us?"

Rita smiled, "I want you to join Brave Vesperia, quit your jobs as mercenary-for-hires and join us in proper guild work, also as a bonus I'll fund the orphanage."

"Can you really do that?" Droite asked, "I mean do you have the money to fund the orphanage?"

"Yeah I do, I got a lot of profits from the 'helium' blastias that's been on sale recently."

Droite and Gauche went silent again, they looked at each other then back to Rita. Suddenly both of them crashed into Rita crying their hearts out, Rita after the initial shock smiled and comforted them, "I guess I'll take this as a sign that you're agreeing to my proposal. I'll talk to Yuri and get you set up."

Soon a month passed and it was Rita's birthday however being Rita she was so busy taking care of business with the house that she had forgotten completely about it. The first thing that she heard as soon as she got out of her room was a massive bang followed by cheering of happy birthdays, needless to say Rita's heart skipped a few beats and this was evident in her condition, "Y-you guys" she said as she panted and clutched her chest. "See I told you Karol we shouldn't have scared her that was way too dangerous with the way Rita is now," Yuri said as he ran to Rita's side, "You okay Rita?"

"Yeah wonderful just… let me take a rest for a moment to let my heart recalibrate as she slumped to the ground. Geez guys was there a better way you could've done that without trying to kill me?"

"Consider yourself lucky," Karol said, "Raven was suggesting that we fire all the cannons in the castle simultaneously" this only resulted in Karol being karate-chopped in the head.

"Hey no violence now, remember about your heart" Yuri warned Rita.

"I think my heart can take smacking Karol for a while."

Yuri sighed and after a while Rita's heart had calmed down, "Anyways guys thanks for the birthday wish even if it did nearly gave me a heart attack," Rita looked around and only saw Yuri, Raven and Karol as well as Repede, "Hey where are the others?"

"Getting your birthday party ready, Flynn excused himself for the day as commandant of the knights to help. You might want to take it easy today Rita, its your special 18th birthday after all."

"I wish I could do that Yuri but I still got some administrative things I need to do with both my home and my status in Aspio. See ya guys tonight at the party."

For the rest of the day Rita was busy putting the finishing touches on her new home as well as negotiating with Aspio about her resignation as mage, it seems that the mages in Aspio weren't too keen on letting their genius mage go away but Rita was adamant about it so in the end they had to accept it though Rita had a feeling that they'll be holding a grudge for a long time.

Soon night descended on Zaphias and Rita found herself in another birthday party reminiscent of Estelle's but this time she was the birthday girl. She found herself meeting guild heads, nobles and other people that she wasn't even sure if she had met before however the other people didn't seem to mind her and was busy talking to other people at the party. The most significant person that Rita saw was Flynn, he was dressed in the same tuxedo outfit that he wore to Estelle and Yuri's wedding night but to top it off he had a top hat to go with it. He approached Rita and kissed her hand, "Happy birthday Rita" he said with a charming smile. Rita could only blush and smile back at him before going to the other members of Brave Vesperia, Estelle was especially clingy to Rita telling her how special she was to have a friend like Rita. Even Gauche and Droite were there, they were especially happy since Rita had funded their orphanage guaranteeing a lifetime funding as well as giving them proper guild jobs, even Yuri said he was impressed by what he saw in those two.

Eventually the time for the birthday cake arrived, Raven carried it on a trolley, after blowing out the candles there was the customary dance. Everyone took a partner except for Rita, she wondered if she could ever take another partner she didn't want to end up like she did almost a month ago but then Flynn came up to her and holding out his hand he said, "May I have this dance?" Rita smiled and replied back, "Do you have to ask?"

The instant that Rita and Flynn held hands it seemed as though the whole world went silent, Rita couldn't hear anything else other than her and Flynn's breathing and their heartbeat resonating as one, for a moment Rita thought that they were dancing to the same slow tune that Estelle and Yuri were dancing to when Estelle had her birthday if not slower. Flynn whispered to Rita, "You look beautiful today Rita."

Rita blushed and said, "Well it is my birthday today and I need to look my best, besides I couldn't disappoint my adoring fans could I?"

"Well you didn't disappoint me."

Rita laughed at this; "It's a beautiful night tonight."

"It is Rita and the moon is so bright that I almost can't see anything but you… you alone can be brighter than the moon, the star and the sun taken together."

"Where did that come from?"

"My own heart and my own soul."

Suddenly the music ended and Rita could hear the applause coming from the area she smiled weakly; she didn't want this to end like this, she wanted those words that she had long waited for to pass through Flynn's lips but what if… what if he doesn't feel that is the right time. Rita let go of Flynn and began to walk away slowly as though she was waiting for it, then Flynn grabbed her arm and inside she was jumping for joy.

"You know what I want don't you?" Flynn said.

"No I don't" Rita said teasing him.

Flynn smiled, "Then I'll say it right here in front of everyone; when I said, 'I loved you,' it's not because I want you or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a hell of a woman Rita."

Flynn got on one knee and brought out a ring with an amber stone in it, "Rita Mordio, will you marry me, Flynn Scifo."

The crowd went silent many remembering the night when Yuri and Estelle got engaged and they murmured to themselves if this was to be Rita's turn, the other Brave Vesperia members each in turn smiled hoping, praying that Rita would say yes. Rita smiled and took Flynn's hand before saying, "On that night, when I was dying and heaven wept for me when I said that if you've asked and I would've said yes… I meant it, don't make me say it again." Rita then brought Flynn closer and deeply kissed him as the crowd cheered, 'finally' Rita thought to herself, 'finally I had found my love, the one true love that I can cherish for all eternity. Finally after a month of agony and angst, my requiem has come to an end.'

**A/N: And that ladies and gentlemen is the end of this story. Special thanks to all the reviewers who reviewed this story and to all the fans who favorite this story, I hope to see you soon on my other stories. If you wish for me to continue with this story please tell me on the review. Thank you and see you on the next fanfic.**


	10. Chapter 10

Rita woke up to the sound of wood creaking; she got up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She looked around and saw that she wasn't in her room back at Zaphias Castle; instead she was in a room with white walls instead of the cold stonewall of the castle and had various pictures hanging from it. Other than that it was similar to the room back at Zaphias Castle, she wondered where she was when Flynn, in his knight uniform, came in smiling, "Good morning Rita."

Then Rita remembered, Flynn had proposed to her and she had accepted it, now both of them were engaged to be married. She couldn't have been happier, after the party they had went straight to their new home which explained the creaking of the woods, "Good morning sweetie," Rita said as she kissed Flynn, "You going to the castle?"

"Yep, I need to take care of some things back at the castle, what are you going to do?" Flynn asked.

"I don't know, guess I'll clean up around the house" Rita said though she didn't had a single clue as to how to do that considering that she never had to clean up after herself.

"You sure you can do that?" Flynn asked teasingly.

"I-I-I'll have to learn don't I?"

"Okay then, love you Rita."

"Love you too Flynn."

Flynn was greeted by a carriage from the castle and hopped on board but not before blowing a kiss to Rita. She blew a kiss back and went into the house to have breakfast then went to work cleaning up the house, apparently Flynn or someone else had cleaned a bit before her as she found that there wasn't a lot of things left to clean other than the floors and the tables. Rita fumed at this, she wanted to learn how to clean things herself Rita sighed and finished off the rest of the cleaning. Afterwards she went outside and just had a walk around the area, Estelle was right there weren't a lot of knights as there would be if you lived in the main road but there weren't any unsavory characters either. Rita met with some of the neighbors who were well aware of who Rita was but they weren't too overly excited to meet a heroine but they did acknowledge her as part of Brave Vesperia.

Estelle visited the house later that day; she was alone as Yuri was too busy with guild jobs to drop by for a visit. Estelle brought some cakes that she had reserved for Rita from the wedding, "I know its been a while since the wedding but I want you to try the cake."

"Thanks Estelle how's everything back at the castle?" Rita asked as she ate the cake, it was delicious and creamy at the same time with a small strawberry at the top.

"Since you moved out things have gone a little quite," Estelle laughed, "but yes everything is just as normal as you would've liked."

"That's good to hear. Again I have to thank you Estelle for giving me this house, its wonderful and in a good neighborhood too."

"Your welcome Rita, I was just glad that I could repay you in a small way for all the times you've been my friend."

"Aw shucks," Rita said as she rubbed the back of her head, "it seemed the right thing to do at the time."

"Well now that you're Mrs. Scifo, what are you going to do?"

Rita was startled at this question and her face went red, "W-w-what do you mean?"

"Well are you going to have any kids?" Estelle asked in her usual naïve way.

"What?" Rita said in surprise, "k-k-kids? I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet, I'm just turned 18 you know."

"There's a minimum age for having kids," Estelle said in confusion then in a serious expression, "I didn't know that."

'Better let her think that way before she says anything else to me that'll give me a heart attack' Rita thought to herself.

"Anyway Rita, what are you going to do now that you're no longer a mage?" Estelle asked.

"I was thinking of doing some sewing or knitting since I am going to be a housewife," Rita said then she saw Estelle giggling, "what's so funny?"

"I just never thought that I would see the day you were knitting or sewing, I can't imagine it."

"Oh, I'll learn…eventually" Rita said also bursting into laughter.

Soon after Flynn arrived back from the castle saying that all his jobs were done and he wanted to see how Rita was doing. After that Estelle stayed for a few more hours before saying she had to go.

"Is that so Estelle, then I won't keep you any longer. Its good to see you again, hope to see you soon."

"I'll drop by tomorrow and the day after that as well, I'll be here as long as you need me."

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Flynn went to get it, Rita could see the person was a middle-aged man with black hair that was starting to gray, azure-blue eyes. He was wearing the traditional robes that mages of Aspio used but she had never seen him before and to top it off he had a cane with him. "Yes is there something I can help you with?" Flynn asked.

"Yes is this the residence of Rita Mordio?" the man asked.

"Yes it is, are you a mage from Aspio?"

"Well no- I mean yes- I mean oh its complicated. Please if it's at all possible I would like to see her."

"I'm sorry but we have no idea who you are," Rita said, "and I've never seen you before in my life."

The man went rigid before relaxing, "well that is to be expected considering how long I've been away from you Rita."

"Again I have to ask-" Flynn said but Estelle held his arm, he looked at her and understood. He let the man in but never kept his eyes of from him.

"Thank you young man, you really don't remember me do you Rita?"

"I'm sorry but I've never seen you in my life."

The man nodded sadly, "Well I have been absent for most of your life, no all of your life. But I know what I will say will shock you but… but Rita I am your father."

**A/N: Okay I know I said in the last chapter that that was the last one but since one fan wants it to continue till the wedding day I thought I might as well finish it off properly. So… Rita's father appear in her life after being absent for 18 years, how will Rita react to this news?**


	11. Chapter 11

Everyone in the room was shocked at what the man had just said, "I'm sorry can you repeat that again" Estelle said her face one that looked like someone had just slapped her.

"Like I said, I'm Rita's father, my name is Robert Mordio. I'm- sorry I _was _a mage at Aspio before I was kicked out of the city for some… bad things that I prefer not to talk about."

"I'm sorry sir, " Rita said standing up, "but I don't believe you, for one my parents are dead, I don't know when and how but that's what the mages at Aspio told me. Besides I can't even remember my parents face."

Flynn went to the man, "Sir if this is some sort of prank I will have to ask you to leave now."

The man quickly took out a pendent but it was broken in half, "Look I have the pendent see? You should have another one similar to this."

Estelle and Flynn looked at Rita who was thinking hard about it when she had an idea, she went towards her luggage that she brought from Aspio and rifled through it, "It should be here somewhere," Rita muttered then brought out another pendent but also broken in two she gave it Robert and he joined the two together to make one complete, albeit broken, pendent everyone gasped at this, "So that means…"

Robert smiled, "Yes Rita that means I'm your father." He approached Rita for a hug but she backed away and went to Flynn's side, "What's wrong?"

"Sir, you can't really expect for a reunion when you've been absent from Rita's life the entire time" Flynn interjected.

"Yes, of course I knew this would be the hard part," Robert said, "but please lets be a family once again okay?"

Rita shook her head, "I'm sorry but if at all possible can you please return tomorrow? I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that my father, who I thought was dead, is alive and here with me now."

Robert nodded, "Okay then I'll be going now, if you need me I'll be at the Coronation Inn near the marketplace, I'll be seeing you tomorrow then Rita." Robert then left closing the door.

Rita crumbled to the floor in a daze, "My father is alive? How?"

Estelle picked her up and sat her back down on a chair, "Rita, its okay Rita we'll get to the bottom of this? Now are you sure that the mages at Aspio told you that your parents were dead?"

"Yeah they did, they said that my parents were doing some sort of formula when something went wrong and it blew up and killed both of them. They said that there was nothing left of them, for years I believed it as truth but to think that my father was somewhere else just waiting for me to come to him."

Flynn went to his fiancée and hugged her tightly, "Its okay, its okay" he continued to say, "Don't think too much about it, just sleep for now and we can sort it out tomorrow."

Rita nodded and slowly went to her bedroom to dwell on what had just happened, Estelle got up and said, "I best be going now, I'll try to get in contact with Aspio and have them come here to explain what's really going on."

Flynn nodded, "I agree, I'll also have my knights keep an eye out on that Robert guy." With those words Estelle parted with Flynn and Flynn went to Rita and comforted her, he kissed her on the forehead and said, "I love you Rita" and Rita said, "I love you too Flynn. However after a while she said to Flynn, "Can I tell you something?"

"What is it?" Flynn said rolling to Rita's side.

Rita rolled to face Flynn, "During my travels with Yuri and Estelle there were times where…" Rita stopped as tears began to run down her face, "where I thought I was going to die, especially when we were fighting Raven when he was Schwann, when we were fighting Alexi and especially when we were fighting Duke."

Flynn cuddled Rita closer to him as he felt tears staining his shirt, "Don't go there, you're here and alive and that's all that matters."

Rita either didn't listen or didn't care she continued by saying, "And in those times I thought of my parents and if I was going to die if they were going to be waiting for me somewhere or if I was just going to be… gone forever. And now…now…" she couldn't continue as she cried her heart out to Flynn.

"I know Rita," Flynn said, "But remember this, you're the genius mage that defeated the Adephagos and saved the world. Against all odds you survived and now you're here, with me." Flynn looked down and saw that Rita had already fallen asleep, she had mentally and physically exhausted herself, Flynn smiled and slept still holding Rita tightly as though he could protect her from whatever was plaguing her mind.

The next morning Rita woke up with Flynn by her side, "Don't you have work to do?" Rita asked Flynn.

"I decided to take the day off, just for you," Flynn said smiling before kissing her.

"Don't," Rita said, "I'll be fine on my own and you must have a ton of paperwork to complete right?"

"Don't worry about it Rita. I'm sure Sodia can handle it until tomorrow." Flynn said.

Rita didn't say anything for a while then she got up and said, "Than you Flynn." She then made breakfast for both of them; a simple sandwich was all that Rita could manage until she could learn to cook from Yuri though that was going to be a pain.

"So are you ready for Robert?" Flynn asked.

Rita looked away and out into the window, "I don't know Flynn, here I am with a father that I've barely known for my whole life and now… its just too confusing."

Flynn held her hand, "I know you're confused now but me and Estelle are going to get to the bottom of this, for now just play along until we know the truth about this."

Rita got up and went to Flynn and hugged him tightly, "Thank you Flynn, you're the best fiancée a girl could ask for."

Flynn smiled and kissed her, "Now lets get this house sorted, it's still a bit dusty from where I'm sitting."

"Really?" Rita said looking around the house, "I thought I got most of the dust and dirt gone by now."

"Almost," Flynn said wiping a small speck of dust off the table, "Now it is clean."

"Haha," Rita said sarcastically, "very funny."

For the rest of the day both Rita and Flynn worked on the house to make it more livable, they moved the furniture, they brought some ingredients for lunch and dinner and they pretty much just relaxed for the day. Then Estelle came by to give some news bringing with her a mage, which Rita recognized as Damien, a mage she often interacted with, "I have something on Robert" Estelle said.

"Damien, it's a surprise to see you here" Rita said.

Damien bowed, "Same here," he then smiled, "I never expected you to be married at such a young age."

"Well there were other circumstances that led me here," Rita said rubbing the back of her head, "anyway Estelle you said that you have something on Robert?"

"Not Lady Estellise, more like I have information about your father that you should know about." Damien said.

"How do you know my father?"

"He was one of my closest friend, and so was Diana, your mother. It's time you know what really happened 17 years ago, when your father and mother married it was like a dream come true. Robert was a young intelligent man but that was flawed by his inability to create formulas despite being a mage; Diana on the other had was the complete opposite of Robert, she was young but had no talent in magic but she had an exceptional ability to create formulas out of thin air. So you can imagine Aspio's surprise when they decided to marry."

"It seems you've inherited both of your parents ability Rita" Flynn said and that made Rita blush.

"However disaster struck this happy union, when you were born Diana…unfortunately died from childbirth problems."

Flynn held Rita's hand which was shaking despite showing a blank face, Flynn knew that this was hard to hear that her mother was dead because of her birth, "Then what happened?"

"Needless to say Robert was devastated, in one single moment he had lost the love of his life and was a single father. All of the mages were saddened to hear this and tried to console your father however he could not be consoled soon he left Aspio to be a wandering mage, before he went he told me that when you were old enough to tell you that your parents were dead so that you wouldn't go looking for him. I'm sorry I never told you Rita I just thought that it would be for your best if you never knew."

Rita was silent as Damien ended his story; she began to realize that Robert had loved her far more than she anticipated for. She began to silently cry as she began to realize just how much Robert loved her, the door opened and everyone saw that Robert was standing outside his face one of shock, "Damien…" he said.

Damien smiled and embraced his old friend, "Robert, how good to see you."

Robert was a bit shocked but he embraced his friend back, he then went to Rita, "I guess he told you what had happened."

Rita got up and hugged her father tightly, "Father…father" she kept muttering as though the words were unfamiliar to her.

"Rita…my daughter, it is good to see you again. I am so, so sorry that I left you alone in Aspio but it was for the best."

"Sir," Flynn approached him hand outstretched, "my name is Flynn Scifo, I'm your daughter's fiancée."

"Ah…yes I heard about you, you're friends with Yuri Lowell the one who dragged my daughter into an unforgettable adventure. Yes, I see she will have a good husband." Robert said shaking Flynn's hand.

"I intend to be one sir, you have my word." Flynn replied.

Robert then turned to Estelle, "Princess Estillise," he said bowing low, "I heard how good of a friend you are to Rita, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the times you've put up with my daugher."

"Oh no sir the pleasure is all mine," Estelle said blushing, "I'm just happy that Rita has finally found her father."

"Yes it is, and congratulations on your marriage."

"Thank you sir. I must be going now Rita, please take care. It's been a pleasure to see you sir."

"See ya Estelle," Rita said waving, "Come back soon."

"Well I must be going now as well," Damien said he looked to Robert and said, "do you want to rejoin Aspio again?"

Robert shook his head, "No, I much prefer to stay with my daughter until her wedding day if that's okay with you. Besides, I don't think that there's much use for an old mage like me."

"The other older mages will be thrilled that you've returned especially since its been what? 17? 18 years since you've last been to Aspio."

"It has been that long has it? Then perhaps I will visit but not now."

"Then I shall leave, goodbye Rita"

"Goodbye Damien and thank you for telling me this" Rita said, "Now for accommodation, good thing we have a guest room is it okay if you stay there Robert.- I mean- father?"

Robert smiled, "Yes that would be just fine, thank you Rita," he then turned to Flynn, "Flynn, may I have a word with you."

"Certainly sir" Flynn said. The walked out and went to the market place, it was a sunny afternoon and most of the residents were busy doing last-minute shopping they sat a bench and Flynn said, "so what is it you want to talk about sir?"

"Please call me Robert," Robert said with a smile, "during my…travels I heard that there was some sort of tragedy during Lady Estellise's birthday, something concerning a mage. Care to tell me what that was about?"

Flynn face went hard, he looked at the ground and said, "Are you sure you want to know about it?"

"I am Rita's father, I need to know everything even if it would break my heart."

Flynn nodded and narrated everything that had happened from Rita's attempted suicide until her near-death experience just recently. When he had finished Robert was looking at the ground and he could see tears forming on his eyes, "I should've been there for her." Robert said.

"You couldn't have known, even I didn't know until it was too late." Flynn said.

"I should've known, I should've come back much sooner than now but I was just so afraid that she would reject me. Oh how could I've been such a fool back then."

"Robert, you're here now. It may be a bit late but you're here, Rita has accepted you. Perhaps its time to reconnect, to find those lost moments and catch up what you missed in the 18 years of her life. Now is the time."

Robert looked at him and smiled, "This is why Rita married you, you're a hell of a politician."

Flynn smiled, "An occupation hazard when you're in the knights."

"Thank you Flynn, perhaps it is time that I come back to Rita's life. Will you help me?"

"I will be more than glad to Robert." With that the two men went back home to reconnect with a daughter that had never known the joy of childhood.

**A/N: Finally the 11****th**** chapter done, sorry it took so long. University took a toll on me, so the final chapter is coming up. Please read and review on what you think about it.**


	12. Chapter 12

**I am so, so sorry it took so long to update. University work was taking a toll on me and I lost my muse for a while, but I recently got it back and finished this up. So here is the final chapter of this fanfic. I would like to thank each and every one of you who reviewed my work, I truly appreciate it and I hope that you will read more of my fanfics, even if they're not about Tales of Vesperia, I will continue to strive to write more fanfics about this series since it's my favourite one. Please watch out for my next fanfiction that I am currently in the process of writing the first chapter for our favourite cast. So without further ado please enjoy the final chapter in this thrilling and romantic tale.**

* * *

It was finally the wedding day; Rita and Flynn had been preparing for this moment since the day that Flynn proposed to Rita. They were going to have it in the same cathedral that Yuri and Estelle married in and the priest, as usual, was Raven though he had promised Rita, under pains of death, not to mess it up. Robert had spend the last two weeks helping Rita prepare for the wedding and between time he also talked to her, catching up on the last 18 years of Rita's life. He was impressed by her role in the destruction of the Adephagos and was proud of his daughter's achievement but he was more impressed by her attitude, Rita was the complete opposite of what he and Diane were 19 years ago…she was hot-headed, brash and prone to fits of violence especially if someone really annoyed her, though it calmed down by now since her heart's condition, Robert wondered about this…was it because she had been alone for 18 years? Robert didn't know and he had no intention of finding out since he was partially to blame for Rita's behaviour but since he's arrival Rita had acted more like a lady and less like a tomboy.

Robert went to Zaphias castle where Rita and Flynn were preparing for the wedding ceremony. He was impressed on how Zaphias had changed over the 18 years he left, it was only a small capital back then with only a battalion of knights stationed here but now…he was simply amazed at how far Zaphias had come, he now began to regret ever running away from Aspio and began his life as a wandering mage. He entered the castle and went straight to Rita's room, he knocked on the door and after getting permission he entered the door and was stunned at what he saw: Rita was dressed in a crimson wedding dress that was adorned with various gems and jewels, at first Rita didn't want the dress but after hearing how Flynn was the one who ordered the dress she decided to wear it just to make him happy, and finally she had a tiara, courtesy of Princess Estellise, on her head. He almost thought that his wife, Diane, was back with him on their wedding day. He approached her and kissed Rita on the neck, he did this instead of somewhere else since Rita was still not comfortable with Robert kissing her anywhere else the first few times he did resulted in him being punched but now Rita was more comfortable with Robert kissing her, "You look wonderful Rita" he said.

"Thanks dad" Rita said smiling, she still had to get used to calling Robert 'dad' and sometimes she stumbled over her words, "I'm nervous" she admitted.

"Don't worry you'll be fine" Robert said looking over his daughter, "I was nervous for my wedding with your mother…you look just like her."

"You had a wedding in Aspio dad, I'm having a wedding in Zaphias, the capital city, in front of thousands of nobles and knights not to mention my friends."

"What's the difference?"

"The difference being that you only had the mages as witnesses, if you screwed up you could've had a laugh about it but here…ergh I don't even want to think about it."

"Hahaha" Robert laughed, "you're just like your mother…she was also worried about how the wedding would go."

"Was she?" Rita asked sarcastically, "well I guess we know why then."

"I'm proud of you Rita…" Robert said softly, "you saved the world with some fine friends…and you've lived this long without me, you're truly the greatest daughter a father could want."

"Thank you father…that means a lot to me today" Rita said smiling.

"Now come on, don't want to keep Flynn waiting do you?" The two of them then went on board the carriage that Estelle had reserved for them, they made their way to the cathedral where the bells were ringing twice as loud as it was during Estelle's wedding day…in fact it nearly deafened her but she didn't mind…today was her special day, the day where she would be with Flynn for the rest of her life. They got to the dressing room where Estelle was waiting for them, "hey Estelle" Rita said.

"Oh Rita you look wonderful today…" Estelle beamed, "it's just like my wedding day."

"Ah…" Rita laughed nervously, 'no it isn't' she thought but decided not to argue, "thanks…" she muttered.

"Thank you Princess Estellise for being my daughter's maid of honour" Robert said bowing, "we owe you a debt of gratitude."

"Oh no…" Estelle said blushing, "the honour is all mine…I just want to help Rita just this once like she always had since we first met."

"Still thanks Estelle, I owe you big time" Rita said smiling. Soon it was time for the ceremony, Robert left to take his place while Rita and Estelle prepared themselves for another wedding, then when the music started playing they got out of the dressing room and walked down the aisle where Flynn was waiting along with Yuri who was, uncomfortably, dressed in a tuxedo. Rita came up next to Flynn who was nervously waiting for the ceremony to end, perhaps because he was embarrassed that a lot of nobles had actually come to the ceremony much to his dismay, "what's wrong Flynn?" Rita asked, "nervous?"

"You're not?" Flynn asked surprisingly.

"Just a bit…but you're a lot more nervous than I am" Rita said.

"And why would I be?"

"Because you're marrying me?"

"That's not a good excuse to be nervous."

The rest of the ceremony then went on smoothly, which surprised Rita because knowing Raven he would've done _something _to make sure that Rita had a special day. As Flynn and Rita went out of the cathedral she saw a carriage that was waiting for the both of them, it was gilded in gold and had phoenixes and horses engraved on it, Rita chuckled a bit as she knew that it was most likely Flynn who had arranged the whole thing, "God Flynn…isn't this a bit too much?" she asked.

"If it's for you…" Flynn said smiling at her direction, "nothing is too much." Rita laughed at those words and happily went on the carriage as it sailed through the streets of Zaphias and straight to the reception hall where Rita and Flynn would be greeting guests, setting the place up and all sorts of things as well as resting since it was going to be an eventful night. Rita arrived at the reception and the first thing she did was go to the bridal room and collapse on the chair, "urgh…is this what Estelle felt like on her wedding day?" she asked herself, "I'm completely exhausted."

Robert then went in and sat next to Rita, "That was exhausting wasn't it?" he asked with a smile earning a glare from his daughter, "was that a serious question father?" Rita asked.

"I'm proud of you Rita" Robert said ruffling her hair a bit, "you've grown into becoming a fine woman."

"Thank you father" Rita said then after a while, "what was mother like?"

Robert sighed and sat back, "Oh Diane…she was a beauty, there was no flower that could be compared to her for she was a flower herself, kind and caring she always took care of the other mages when they were overworked from figuring some formula or another…perhaps that was what made me fall in love with her at first…because she cared for me."

"And that changed?" Rita asked.

Robert nodded, "As we started dating more and more I found that what I loved wasn't her caring personality, well I did but that's not the main reason, but it was her smile that did the trick for me…that smile that always brightened by life whenever I see it."

"Don't all men say that" Rita commented smirking earning her a light punch from her father, "do you miss her?"

"Everyday…there isn't a moment that goes by that I don't think about her…you know you actually look like her in some ways."

"I do?"

"Your eyes for starters…it's the same colour as your mother, azure blue, then there's your hair, fiery red and then…there's your height."

"What about my height?"

"Short just like your mother."

"Oi!" Rita yelled as she tried to punch her father only to be held back by his long hands making both of them laugh, then the door opened and Estelle came in, "hey Estelle" Rita said.

"Hello Rita, Mr Mordio…what are you two doing?" Estelle asked cocking her head to one side.

"Uh…nothing…" Rita said as she got up, "anyways…what are you doing here Estelle? Where's Yuri?"

"Yuri's with Flynn preparing for the reception" Estelle said just as there was a loud explosion, "oh dear…" Estelle said looking out.

"Old man Raven and Karol?" Rita asked exasperatedly as she closed her eyes trying to calm herself down.

"Yes…along with Judith as well" Estelle said with surprise in her voice.

"Judith? What would Judith want with those two?" Rita asked, "actually on second thought don't tell me because I don't wanna know."

Robert chuckled and got up saying, "I'll see what those three are up to…you take a rest Rita 'cause it's going to be a long night."

"Okay see ya father" Rita said yelling after Robert, "phew…that's done and dusted."

Estelle closed the door behind her and inhaled and exhaled before saying, "Rita I have something to tell you."

"What is it?" Rita asked, "and what's with the closed door."

"I can't let anyone else hear because it's supposed to be kept a secret…but I'm pregnant with Yuri's child."

Rita's face instantly went hot as she tried to imagine how her child was going to be and nearly fainted, "Wh-what? So soon?"

"Yes" Estelle said nodding, "even the doctor said that it was a complete surprise."

"Congratulations Estelle, I'm so glad for you" Rita said shaking Estelle's hand up and down, "so what are you going to call him or her if it's a girl?"

"I don't know…" Estelle said sitting down, "it's all so sudden that I've barely even made plans for a baby."

"Don't worry we'll help you Estelle, you can always count on Brave Vesperia."

"Thank you Rita…you're the best friend have I ever told you that?"

"Hahaha…several times in a month."

"I should leave you to rest Rita…it will be tiring as your father says" Estelle said leaving Rita alone in the room, Rita smiled and she closed her eyes and soon fell asleep on the chair.

She was woken up by a loud knocking on her door, startled she jumped and crashed to the floor resulting in the door opening rather loudly, "Are you okay Rita?" Estelle asked rushing to her aid, "is it your heart? Do you feel fine?" and other questions relating to her health. Rita grabbed Estelle's shoulder and said, "I'm fine Estellle…my heart is fine it's just that you scared me when you knocked on the door."

"Should I have knocked a little softer then?" Estelle asked.

"No it's fine…look is there something you wanted?" Rita said deflecting the statement.

"Oh yes…it's time for your reception" Estelle said joyfully.

Rita blinked a few times before the whole thing dawned on her, "Oh crud the reception…I completely forgot" as she rushed here and there to get ready while Estelle stood there laughing softly before coming to help her get ready, "I thought my father would have woken me up sooner than now" Rita grumbled.

"He did but…but he said you looked cute sleeping so he decided to let you sleep for a few moments but he must've lost track of time" Estelle explained.

"Anyone else came with him?" Rita asked fearing that Raven or Karol came with and she wouldn't hear the end of it if that happened.

"Not that I know of" Estelle replied.

Soon Rita was ready and she took her position just as the whole thing was beginning, she could hear Raven talking and pulling off a couple of jokes before she could hear him say, "And now…ladies and gentlemen let's welcome Mrs. Rita Scifo" and the door opened to the sound of the crowd clapping, Rita was taken aback for a moment before she smiled and walked down the aisle to where the Flynn was, sitting at the table of honour, along with her father and Yuri who was trying his best to look interested. After a lengthy talk about Rita and Flynn and how they first met each other it was time for the dance, Rita wasn't even aware that it was time for the dance as the whole even up to that time had been a blur, Flynn stood up and offered his hand, "can I have this dance?" he asked with a smile and Rita smiled back before taking his hand.

They went to the dance floor where they danced to the slow tune of the music, Estelle must've picked it because of Rita's heart condition but she didn't mind…as long as she was near Flynn that was all that mattered to her, "You look beautiful tonight Rita" Flynn whispered. "Don't I always?" Rita asked back smiling.

"No but you really do look more beautiful than ever tonight" Flynn replied.

"I never thought you would be the one that I would marry…in fact I never even thought of marrying until I met you."

"There's always something that will surprise you…even for a great mage such as yourself."

"Ex-mage…I retired remember?"

"Ah yes…who could forget?"

"Don't be so sarcastic…"

"When am I ever sarcastic?"

"I love you Flynn…"

"I love you too Rita, from now until the end of time." They then kissed much to the joy of the crowd, then suddenly a loud crack resounded and Rita jumped only to hear a whistling sound before the sky just beside them burst into blue, red and green lights…other colours then erupted in the sky as Ba'ul suddenly appeared and roared before flying off again, "I guess now I know what those three were up to" Rita said referring to Karol, Raven and Judith's meeting.

"Is that so?" Flynn smiled looking at the sky.

"You knew didn't you? Did father knew as well?" Rita asked.

"Nah…just me and those three you mentioned and maybe Yuri since he's always poking his nose where it doesn't belong."

"Hey…I'm right here you know?" Yuri said leaning on the wall and smiling as he watched the night sky turned into day. As Rita watched the sky she looked around to see Estelle chatting with Robert as they watched the fireworks, Repede sitting down next to Yuri wagging his tail and barking now and then as though he was commenting on the fireworks, the twin Gauche and Driote were busy eating the food though they were also transfixed on the fireworks and finally Judith, Karol and Raven, who had rappelled down the roof since she later found out that it was quicker than using Ba'ul, smiling at her in joy. She closed her eyes and mentally thought to herself, 'thank you everyone…for always being there for me, I truly do love you all…I will always cherish you as friends and family…but most of all thank you God for giving me Flynn and showing me that there is always a light at the end of the darkness' as she watched the firework she knew that the rest of her life would be a peaceful and bliss one and that was all she needed to know.


End file.
